Impossible love of war
by A Drunk Canadian
Summary: War can cause different types of love. Love for the war, love for the fighting, love for the hatred of the enemy... but is it possible to love the war because of love for the enemy? Semi Self Insert/Female Elite. Rated M for Language & Romance.
1. Chapter 1

I never knew my real parents. All I can remember were voices and slightly blurry memories, but not once have I ever remembered my parent's faces. The farthest back that I remember too, was where I was playing with my friends, when I was suddenly called over by two big men in ominous uniforms. I remembered seeing them last time a woman came by and played a game with me… I still had that quarter with me that I had won. After coming over to them, all I can remember was a small sharp pain in my arm… and then blackness. That was where my training started. Endless weeks of punishing obstacle courses, runs and classes. CPO Mendez is the man who is responsible for who I am today…. What I am today. A Spartan. I am just one of the only few left alive. Half of our numbers "washed out" during the augmentation process, leaving just around thirty of us left alive, that doesn't include those who are too physically irreversibly disfigured. I am a Spartan. A cybernetically, genetically and technologically enhanced super soldier. All the Spartans including myself, have all been given the title of "Hyper Lethal". Hyper Lethal… not a title taken lightly. I have fought in over 150 ground campaigns. I have killed tens of thousands of covenant. I have been awarded every medal in the UNSC forces and have saved the lives of a lot of top brass. I have reflexes and strength that far surpass those of any regular human. I have survived weather conditions and injuries that would have killed any regular human. I can lift over two tons, sprint at 53 KPH, and snap a grunts neck with a twitch of my hands. Yet I have my flaws. I have never been able to control my emotions, and this has led me to following reckless, suicidal actions and I have allowed depression from the grief of dead teammates to swallow me up. Yet the worst of my imperfections was outstanding and out shadowed absolutely every other flaw. I could love.

**Mission Log: Investigate enemy contact on surface of **_**Classified**_**: Date: October 21, 2550, 16:25:46+ **

I am Spartan-099-Alex. And this… is my story of confusion.

"Ok Spartan, listen up!" Captain Drake's voice rang out from inside of my helmet and cut through my slumber, waking me up.

Chinning a control in my helmet inside of my helmet, I spoke to the Captain. "Go ahead sir."

"Well I'm glad that your awake, because I was just getting ready to send some ODST down there to wake you up. Anyways, we are almost in drop position, assemble your squad of men and report to "Hells Waiting Room" immediately." And then the Comm, went dead.

Shaking my head to wake myself up, I reached for one of the storage lockers near me and yanked out one of the weapons from within. An MA5B Assault Rifle which I checked over for any faults with a trained eye. Seeing none, I ensured the safety was on before slipping across my shoulder to where it magnetized onto my back. Reaching in again, I then pulled out an M6G pistol before slipping that into the holster placed on my hip. Grabbing two frag grenades, I clipped them onto my harness before sliding the knife that was situated on my chest out of its holster and spinning it around lazily, all the while checking for faults. Finding none, I slid it back in the holster and then proceeded towards the elevator. Stepping in, and punching the last button on the holographic display the doors closed and the elevator immediately started to head down towards the launch room. Chinning the botton for the comm in my helmet, I opened up a channel to all of the ODST's under my command.

"ODST's! Listen up. We are about 3 minutes away from dropping into hell once more; we get the honor of doing this for what… the 50th time now? Whatever it is, kiss your bunk mates goodbye because we are dropping in less than 3 minutes!" I shouted out, and I heard a collective groans and 'ah shits' but everyone thundered back at me, 'Sir yes sir!'

Straightening my back in pride, I reflected on how well my men had performed over the last four years. Back when I was just a Lieutenant, ONI had taken me away from the main group of Spartans, and had placed an ODST squad under my command. The first few months were rough and tense, as the ODST's were extremely reluctant to be under my command; A Spartans command. Over time though, I had earned their trust, then their respect and finally their friendship. The ODST's said that 'I was the biggest, meanest, and coldest son of a bitch out there on the field. Off the field, I was the most relaxed, sarcastic person that they had ever really known. As you can see, I am very easy going. But on the field… all of my hate, the cold fury that I kept bottled up inside of me… I saved that exclusively for the Covenant. I wanted the Covenant to realize that they were going to hell when they died, and for that reason alone, I had gone against regulations and changed the regular green color of my armor to a jet black finish, and had changed the golden visor into a black one. It was EXTREMELY non-regulation, but my superiors ignored it due to the fact that I got results on missions.

The elevator pinged and that snapped me out of my reverie. The doors opened up to reveal a long hallway with a bunch of yelling coming from behind the door at the end. Jogging lightly towards the door, I just pass in front of it before the door opened up to reveal my team. Specter squad. MY squad. I stepped into the room and called out to everyone.

"Specter squad, attention!" Every man and woman immediately stopped what they were doing and formed up in front of me in precise and sharp movements.

"Listen up! We are going to be over the drop zone in 40 seconds, so I'm going to make this short. Watch each other's backs, shoot at any hostile that moves and for god sakes, DO NOT shoot at me this time!" I yelled, chuckling at the end. Everyone dispersed into their own individual pods bearing their names, laughing all the while.

It was a reference to the one time that one of my ODST's shot at me with a Gauss turret, making me dive for cover faster then I had ever moved before.

I waited until everyone had secured themselves in their pods before I myself leapt into my own pod. Once the hatch closed, my hands were a blur even to me as I checked the pods status, secured my harness over myself, armed the ejection tube, and primed the mini rockets on the bottom of the pod. I braced my boots on the grating of the pod, and watched the seconds slowly tick down on the timer.

_0:05…0:04…0:03…0:02…0:01… EJECT!_

A thump reverberated through the pod, and then suddenly my stomach lifted into my throat and I was sent hurtling in the pod through the planets atmosphere.

I got a sudden adrenaline rush and couldn't contain my excited yell.

"YAAAHHHOOOOO!"

The shout reverberated throughout the Comm, and on the mini-screen which displayed all of my squads helmeted heads, all of them gave me a thumbs-up.

We were all excited now… but I had no idea that disaster was just waiting for me and my squad on the surface of the planet. Disaster that would make me re-think the entire war… and redirect my hatred.


	2. Rough landing

I do not own Halo. I only on my OC's and this story, Halo belongs to Bungie

* * *

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest with all the excitement of a young kid on Christmas opening up a present. Free falling in a small pod that's barely bigger than a hunter, covered with a paper-thin amount of armor that won't do anything against incoming plasma fire and with the fact that the pods chute might not deploy and end up killing me… oh yeah. How could I NOT be excited? I looked left and right in the pod, looking out the windows. There were a couple of black silhouettes in the background, my men and woman in their own individual pods. I nodded my head in approval; everything was going as smoothly as a freefall drop from 10,000 meters in orbit could be.

I suddenly heard a Crackling sound of white static, and a screen a little bit to my left lit up. A helmeted head popped up, and although I could not tell who it was, the name on the bottom of the screen told me exactly who it was, even though I could tell who it was just by the way the helmeted figure held their head_. Pvt. Grey._ Grey nodded her head at me before I heard her voice spring to life inside of my helmet.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Her voice sang into my ear.

Pvt. Grey… always the one who needed the most reassurance on these missions. She was always the quiet one, brave but meek. She had the sweetest voice I had ever heard, and I often fell asleep to her singing when we were on missions, even though I had never told her and she never knew I listened. Thank the UNSC for bio-genetic cocktails that enhanced my hearing.

I turned towards the image of her and smiled softly behind my helmet. "Permission granted."

If this had been an open channel, I would have denied her request to speak freely. Yet this was a private channel as none of the other ODST's faces were shown on the blank monitors.

"And drop the 'sir' shit Grey. I'm not too big on formalities, you know that." I grinned softly at her.

I don't know why, but I always viewed her as one of my sisters out of the Spartan program. Maybe it was the fact that she actually saw a person behind this black visor, a human being with feeling and wants and needs just like anyone else.

Nodding her head, she whispered "Yes sir- I mean Alex." She was also the only ODST who knew my real name, and the only one whom I trusted enough to let her know that.

"Okay… I know that this is a big mission, and that I need to focus all of my attention on the pending objectives and keeping the squad and myself alive, but I have this feeling that I can't shake. I have lived a damn good life, and I won't be afraid to die here if I have too, but I feel like there is something missing. Like I am somehow empty, and nothing I do can get rid of this feeling. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on what I should do, Alex?" She finished her speech with a mere whisper, hints of desperation creeping into her voice.

I sighed. Distractions like this were dangerous and if everyone's focus wasn't on the mission, then that person might slip up and everyone could die. That's why I tried to help my men and woman as much as I could. I had made it clear to them that my figurative door was always open to them, and if they had problems that they could not solve on their own and they needed help, then I would help them to the best of my abilities.

Shaking my head ever so slightly at this, I asked her, "What exactly is this feeling Grey? Do you feel sick about it, or is it just a nagging feeling?"

Being in touch with my emotions more so then the rest of the Spartan II's made me unique in many different ways. ONI saw this, and so they deployed me on missions that required more…. Etiquette than the usual run and gung-ho tactics of my brothers and sisters. I took psychology lessons and I was more or less a counselor. I was able to talk to and sympathize with civilians, and I was able to deal with them in a way that made my brothers and sisters a bit envious of me. In fact, the only other Spartans I knew of that were like me were, Jorge-052 and Flynt-101. Jorge was reassigned to a squad on Reach a couple of years ago, and Flynt was the only one who I never really found out where he left too.

"Alex… it's a twisting, biting feeling in my chest, one that makes my chest tighten and my heart beat quicker whenever I see two people kissing or hugging. What is wrong with me?" She questioned me, her voice starting to tinge with fear.

I sighed again. I knew exactly what her problem was. She was lonely, simple as that. _'Great… of all things, of all possible syndromes that she could be suffering from, she had to be suffering from loneliness and depression.'_

* * *

_Flashback_

It had been two years ago, when I first noticed some strange things about my squad. For instance; I had been walking back to my room in the barracks after been given a two hour debriefing on my last mission, when I heard a groan coming from inside one of the rooms. It had sounded pained, so I had immediately opened up the door and stepped inside. And there, on one of the bunks, was Sgt. Drake and Cpl. Frailaa having sex. They had both stopped and stared at me, wide-eyed and mouths open in shock. I had just stepped out of the room, closed the door and continued on my way to my room. Contemplating what I had just seen.

Another incident, was when I had been on guard duty for watching over the camp on one of our missions. I heard a bunch of hushed voices in the bush, and finding it strange that there were people in the bush and not in their tents, I stealthily made my way through the shrubs and plants, and came upon another site. Pvt. Kenneth and Pvt. Gabby were making out in a small clearing. "Kenneth, I don't think that we can continue doing this. I want you so badly, but it's not right for us to do this." "I know Gabby, but… it's not fair, I just want to be able to love you and hold you, but the damn rules insist that we can't."

After seeing that I had quietly slipped back to camp, pretending not to notice their shadowy silhouettes when they snuck back to their respective tents.

After that mission was over, I had called a general meeting for all of the ODST's and insisted that all of them had too attend. They had all lined up, standing at attention and gazing straight ahead. The fact that I had not put them at ease was unusual and it showed on their faces, as I saw a flicker of fear on Pvt. Kenneth and Pvt. Drakes faces.

I glance at each and every one of them before I addressed them. I had also taken off my MJOLNIR armor for this, so they could see that I was being serious.

"Attention ODST's! You might be wondering why you are here. You might be wondering, why you can't watch your porn right now, or why you can't stare at your ceiling and slip slowly into madness." I barked at them, secretly grinning on the inside.

A few of the assembled ODST's chuckled weakly with laughter, but it died out pretty quickly under my sharp glare.

"Now, it has come to my attention that there have been a few… incidents of improper relationships and fraternization." I rumbled, and I saw Pvt. Kenneth and Pvt. Drakes faces go pale. "Now, I want the ones who were at fault to step forward right now. Don't even think of hiding because I know who you are. Step forward now and you will get off easily. Stay back…. Well I guess you'll find out what will happen then won't you?" I let the veiled threat hang in the air, and crossed my arms and waited. A minute ticked by before both couples stepped forward; Sgt. Drake and Cpl. Frailaa as well as Pvt. Kenneth and Pvt. Gabby. I looked at them before nodding and ordering, "As you were." They fell back into line and I continued to glare at them.

"Now, the rules state, that fraternization is clearly unacceptable, and that any and all persons at fault are to be split up into separate units or even on too different planets." I spoke with authority in my voice, and I saw both of the couples exchange panicked looks with each other before gazing straight ahead with worried eyes.

I suddenly grinned at them with a warm smile and told them with a humorous note in my voice what I was just waiting to say.

"I say, fuck the rules! No one is going to live forever, and no one is going to go through live without feeling for someone. In the UNSC, those feelings are wasted and repressed. I disagree with that! No one should have to repress their feeling of love, and I am certainly not going to court martial anyone for acting upon these feelings. ODST's I am telling you right now that if you want to have a relationship with someone in the squad, go right ahead, for you have my full authority and approval!" I roared out the last part, grinning widely at the ODST's.

All of them let out shouts and hollers of jubilation and excitement, high-fiving each other and grinning widely. The two couples that I had addressed looked at me with thankful looks in their eyes. But I had to wrap this up before my squad drew the attention of the entire base.

"ODST's!" I bellowed, getting everyone to shut-up and pay attention. I grinned. "Enjoy yourselves!"

All of my ODST's came to attention, snapped of sharp salutes and roared as one. "Thank-you, sir!"

That was a memory that I was never going to forget.

_Flashback ends_

* * *

Snapping out of my memory, I glanced to the image of Pvt. Grey who was waiting patiently for my answer.

"Well Grey, what you are suffering from is something that only you can fix. I can't tell you how to fix it, because it has never and never will work if I tell you what to do. You are suffering from loneliness." I smoothly answered her question, and I could sense that she was going to speak, so I cut her off before she could.

"You are not suffering from people loneliness or camaraderie loneliness, but rather companion loneliness. The kind where someone special to you will hold you tight or will stand by your side when you are most vulnerable. And like I said, only you can fix this, do you understand Grey?" I asked of her, secretly hoping that she would.

I waited for a few long and painful seconds before I heard her sweet voice again, this time laced with confidence. "Got it Alex, thanks." She said and then terminated the private channel.

The temperature inside of the pod was getting hot, according to my suits temperatures, and I hoped that the ODST's internal suit temperature regulators kept them alive.

Everyone's faces appeared on the blank monitors, and so did their bio signs. Everyone's heart rate was slightly accelerated but it all appeared inside of the acceptable standards. I checked my own and my own heart rate was slightly accelerated as well, but I figured that much out already. A sudden beep caught my attention and I hit one of the buttons in the pod. An altimeter popped up and showed me that we were already half-way down through the atmosphere with the numbers clicking down rather fast. I eyed the readout and nodded in confirmation. We were going to hit the dirt pretty quickly and I wanted to ensure that all of my men and women were ready to fight.

"ODST's! Equipment check, sound off!" I ordered into the comm, hoping everything would go all right.

After hearing all 10 of my men and woman sound off, I then proceeded to relay to them my orders.

"Okay, we are going to be hitting ground pretty quick so here are your objectives. When we land, you are to immediately sweep the area for incoming hostiles, and if you see any, you are cleared to engage on sight. If you encounter too heavy resistance, fall back to rally point Alpha" I said, marking it on my Tacpad. "Second, we are to breach the covenant refueling station and wipe out any resistance. We will then proceed the main core room, and arm your C-12 explosive charges on the main fuel pipes. Finally, we will fall back and regroup at rally point Bravo and once everyone is there, we will proceed to Evac point Zulu three" I ordered, pinging a beacon at the Evac point. Highlighting a mountainous route, I marked it as red. "This route probably has snipers posted everywhere so we will not be going through there." I then highlighted a forested green area and advised them "This s probably the best route for concealment. If anyone has any objections, speak up now." I finished, waiting for any sort of question or complaint.

There were none.

Nodding to everyone, I then looked back to the altimeter and saw that we were only 3500 meters high now.

I grabbed the chute handle and spoke into the comm, "Everyone, deploy your chutes on my mark."

Everyone's face disappeared on the monitors and I received green acknowledgment lights on my HUD (Heads Up Display).

I counted down the seconds to what I estimated would be a good height to deploy the parachutes.

_3…2…1…_

"Mark!" I barked into the comm, and yanked down on the chute release handle.

The chute deployed with _thump_and I was viciously thrown side to side in my harness due to the sudden deceleration. Looking out the window, I saw the same thing happen to everyone else's pod. All of the chutes deployed successfully and none snapped.

I sighed in relief and grinned to myself _'At least no one is digging an early grave today…' _I thought to myself.

However, as I looked out the window, my mind raced at what I saw. There were dozens of shade turrets, and I could see some of them starting to track our pods. Eyes widening, I yelled into the comm, "Everyone, break chutes and perform evasive maneuvers!"

I hit a red button at the top of the pod, and all I heard was a _snap_before my pod suddenly started to accelerate again. I grabbed onto the pods control handles and yanked them to the sides. The pod responded with a jolt, and moved to the right as I was pushed roughly to the left inside of the pod. I couldn't see anyone out of the windows, but I could only hope that they were doing the same thing. I heard screams and cries of terror over the madness of what was happening, but I was unable to pinpoint who exactly was in trouble and with what. Suddenly, bright blue and hot red plasma flew by the windows. I jolted the controls to the left this time and was promptly tossed around inside of the pod had is juked left.

The altimeter on my tacpad just whistled the numbers by and I could see that I was only 600 feet up. I ignited the mini thrusters on the bottom of my pod with a few taps on the pods interface screen, and the pod groaned in protest, the sound of tortured metals shrill screech erupted into my ears. The pod slowed but not enough. It was going to be a hard-landing. _300 feet… 200 feet… 100 feet… CRASH! _

The world jolted around me and it felt like my organs were thrown against a brick wall inside of me. My world was spinning and I could see stars, but I still punched the pods emergency releases to open up the hatch, and they the small charges placed by the door blew up, exploding the door outward and away from me. I released my harnesses and stumbled out of the pod.

I could barely see, and think, and I just only resisted the urge to vomit. I shook my head and tried to clear my vision, but it only helped a little, doing nothing to aid the pains in my body. Reaching down to the trauma kit at my thigh, I reached in and pulled out a Stim shot. I pooped the protective covering off, and injected the needle into one of my leg ports, grimacing. After I had fully injected the needles contents into my body, I yanked the needle out and threw it away. I waited only 3 seconds before I gasped and shuddered as a sudden energy boost flowed throughout my body. Once my vision cleared, I jogged over to my pod and grabbed my MA5B from the wall beside the seat. I checked it quickly and sighed in relief as I saw no signs of damage, praying that everything else worked. Running a suit diagnostic, I was immensely relieved to see that my suit was fine and in perfect working order. I quickly made sure my weapons were working, and then I turned on my shields, hearing the audible hum as the suit charged them.

It was only then that I heard the sounds of gunfire in the distance. I heard the high pitched whine of a plasma rifle, the staccato report of an MA5B firing in short bursts, and the _Whump _of a grenade. I tried to raise my ODST's on the comm, but it wasn't until I saw the bio signs of my teammates that were static filled that I realized that we were being jammed. My motion tracker was working fine however, so I looked towards the source of the fighting, and then sprinted in that direction.

It was only when I ran into a pair of hunters that I knew this mission was going to be tough.

* * *

Hey guys, its me! Lol, anyways here's a new chapter for all of those who read and review. Special thanks to those readers who did review. It really brightens up my day when i see a review, and even more so when it is either complimenting or constructive criticism. Plus, they help me catch mistakes that i would normally never see on my own. So once again, thank you to those who reviewed!

Review please!


	3. New guests

_I do not own Halo. Halo belongs to Bungie. Oc's belong to thier respective Authors. I belong to me and so does this story_. It was the only word that could possibly describe the look on my face behind the helmet. And it wasn't the 'Happy shit', or the 'pleasantly surprised shit'. No. It was the 'Oh-fuck I think I just shit my pants shit'. A Hunter was in my opinion, not a heavy mobile weapons platform, but rather a goddamn walking tank with near impenetrable armor. The only thing that could blow through that armor was a rocket launcher and I currently did not have one, so that left improvisation. Something that I was never good at.

* * *

Shit

"Fuck!" I yelped in surprise, and quickly rolled to the right in an attempt to throw the hunters aim off and buy myself sometime to move.

It worked, but not as well as I had hoped as the hunters still fired at me. One of the green super-heated plasma blasts passed directly over my head, but the other exploded on the ground near me and I was washed in heat, flames and energy. The force of the blast propelled me through the air and I landed behind a few boulders a couple of meters away. I grunted in pain as I hit the ground, and all I could see and hear was stars and a loud buzzing in my ear. I tried to get up, but my muscles screamed in protest and agony, preventing me from moving. I could see the Hunters move towards me in my Peripheral vision and I desperately tried to get up, tried to fight back, but my body refused to work. I could only watch helplessly as the hunters stalked over towards me. One of the hunters raised its fuel rod cannon at me, and started to charge it. To me, it seemed like time had slowed down as I watched the motley green-white build up in intensity and I could hear the audible snapping and crackling of the air from the super-heated plasma.

I so desperately tried to move, so desperately attempted to fight, to at least try and take one of them with me, but I couldn't. I saw my death coming, and so I just closed my eyes, and waited for the searing hot blast of the Hunters attack.

It never came.

4 rapid fire _Cracks_ of a sniper rifles booming report rang out in the area, and as I opened my eyes, I was treated to the sight of orange fluorescent blood exploding outwards of a hunter in a spray. The hunter groaned in pain, and then collapsed onto the ground with a massive _Thud_. Its bond brother roared in rage and sorrow, and turning to where the shots came from, fired its massive fuel rod cannon in wild inaccurate blasts. The ground seemed to rumble under the barrage of shots that the hunter was letting off, and I feared for the life of the mysterious sniper who had just saved my ass. Using all of my strength and willpower, I finally managed to get up onto my own two feet. The hunter was too damn busy to realize that I had finally stood up and that was it's fatal mistake.

With a loud cry, I sprinted towards the hunter. It heard me, but it was too slow to hit me, as the green blob of explosive plasma it shot at me missed me by a meter as I continued to run full speed at the hunter. Finally when I got within range, I lunged at the hunter with a leap and tackled it. The hunter must have been off balance, because it fell down onto its back with me on top as I hit it. The ground quite literally shook with our combined weight, but that was the last thing on my mind. The only thing on my mind was ending this gigantic tanks life. Grabbing my combat knife, I plunged it right into the neck of the hunter and was rewarded with a loud thunderous cry of rage and pain. Twisting and turning the knife, I then ripped it through the flesh and pulled the knife out. The hunters movements were weak and slow, but eventually stopped all together. When it stopped thrashing, I got off of the hunter, but nearly collapsed in pain. I could barely breath, could barely move, but yet I had to, I had to see if my mysterious guardian sniping angel was all right. Looking at the bush where the firing came from I yelled out

"I know you are there! Show yourself!"

A little bit of rustling came from some leaves a little bit ahead, and I instinctively reached for the MA5B Assault Rifle on my back which wasn't there.

"Wait Commander!" I heard one of my troopers yell out.

Immediately, a small picture of Pvt. Grey snapped up in my H.U.D. Letting out the breath that I did not realize that I had been holding, I relaxed my stance and stood at a slightly weary position. Pvt. Grey's helmeted head appeared out from behind a bush and I could tell that she was absolutely terrified. She was shaking slightly and her movements of walking towards me were clumsy and uncoordinated.

"Pvt. Grey! Report!" I barked at her.

She snapped to attention and answered in a broken voice.

"Sir! Our squad…. I could not find any of them. I- i….. What if they are dead sir?" she almost started to sob.

I was about to go over to her but stopped when I saw a mirage behind her. Experience told me that mirages were usually very, VERY dangerous.

I cried out her name. "Crystal!" But was too late as the mirage behind her materialized into a elite with a plasma rifle.

The back of Crystals head snapped forward with a jolt as the Elite clubbed her on the head. She fell down o the ground without a sound and did not get back up. The sight of that caused something inside of me to snap and I let out one of the loudest war cries I had ever shouted. Hurling myself at the Elite with reckless adbandon and with my knife unsheathed, I was determined to utterly destroy the offender that would DARE to harm my sister!

I tackled into the Elite and knocked it down to the ground, both of us squirming to be on top. My mind told me that this was a Commando Elite, a high prestige warrior class that is very dangerous. He had skill and it showed in his form while we were struggling, but I was fueled by white-hot rage and this lent me strength. With a loud, savage cry, I drove my blade into his throat. Purple blood gushed out in torrents and the Elite clapped his hands to his throat in a futile attempt to stem the blood flow. Grabbing his head, I twisted his head around, and the sound of singing vertebrae was sweet music to my ears. I was going to check on Crystal, but the roars of two nearby Elites stopped me from doing so. Reaching down, I yanked my knife out of the Elites throat, and looking at my radar, I whipped the knife in the direction of the one of the red blips.

I was rewarded with a howl of pain from one of the Elites and I grinned in satisfaction.

"Bullseye!" I cried out

However, the smile quickly disappeared into a frown of frustration as the second Elite rushed at me with an Energy Sword drawn. Spotting the Energy sword handle on the thigh of the now deceased Elite, I picked it up and snapping my arm down and outwards and squeezing the handle, the magnetic field contained plasma, sprang to life with a _Snap-hiss! _

The Elite swung its blade a me a head level, intent on cutting my head clean off. Flicking the sword upwards, I managed to parry its attack and the blades met together in a flurry of sparks. The Elite immediately swung at my mid section and was just able to step backwards and avoid having my guts spilled onto the ground. Using the brief null as an advantage, I lunged forward but the Elite stepped backwards and swung at my legs where I then jumped over the blade. Our blades met again in a series of clashes and sparks and again we both disengaged, only to run at each other and lock blades once more. To anyone watching us, it would seem as if the two of us were locked in a deadly, beautiful dance that was perfectly synchronized. However, his was far from a dance and this was not beautiful. This was war.

Once again we clashed blades and this time we locked together in a power struggle. I grunted and ground my teeth together in pure rage and fury and pushed as hard as I could. Why would this ting not die?

It snapped its mandibles at me and strained just as hard against me. The blades passed dangerously close to my head as it started to gain the upper advantage. The internal temperature inside my MJOLNIR suit skyrocketed and static washed over my H.U.D.

With a roar, the Elite slashed me across the visor, cutting it and scraping against my forehead, where it just passed above my left eye, across my face and just below my right eye. I cried out in agony and flinched away, dropping the sword in the process. Ripping my helmet off, I was blinded by the blood in my eyes and could not see the Elite, which then proceeded to knock me onto the ground. I tried to see the Elite, but I couldn't and so I frantically reached for the sword but was stopped when the Elite stomped on my arm and kicked me in the chest, knocking me flat on my back.

Raising a hoof, it then stopped onto my chest and leaned its head in close. Red hot pain flared across my face and I could hardly move from the crippling pain.

It's mandibles moved and the translating software in my suit directed the translated Covenant dialect into my Cochlear implant.

"Your destruction is the will of the gods demon… and we… we are there instruments!" It roared out the final part and raised its sword high into the air, preparing to impale me against the ground.

Snapping my hand for my magnum in a final desperate movement, I grabbed the handle, whipped up the magnum and jammed it against the Elites midsection.

"Go to hell!" I screamed, and pulled the trigger.

_Bang!_

The Elite recoiled and looked down at the now gaping hole in it's stomach. Blood was pouring out and it raised it's head to look at me with surprise and pain filled eyes. I pulled the trigger again.

_Bang!_

The Elite coughed up Purple blood and splashed my armor with it. Still the Elite did not go down and so I hammered the trigger in an desperate attempt to put it down.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

After the Magnums loud report had stopped echoing, I looked at the Elite. It gave me one last, final glare before its eyes glazed over in death, and the Elite fell off of me to the side. I did not feel any pain, but rather immediately went to check on Crystal.

Her breathing was almost non-existent, and I feared the worst, until I barely heard her groan. I felt my heart jump at that, and I was going to start treating her, until I heard a pained whimper. Snapping my head and magnum up to the left, I was treated to the sight of the Elite that I threw my knife at. It was propped up against a nearby tree, vainly trying to pull the knife out of its chest. Blood was flowing freely, and its breaths were becoming labored as its struggles weakened. I had half the mind to just let it bleed out and let it suffer in agony, but my tactical mind screamed at me that the Elite was still a threat until it was well and truly dead. Checking to ensure that I still had bullets in my Magnum, I started to stalk over to the Elite. To its credit, the Elite did not cower away, rather just glared at me with eyes that told of a spirit that would never give up. It growled as I got close but it could not do anything too win and it knew it. I crouched down by the Elite, and placed my magnum to it's head.

"You bastards have killed so many of my brothers and sisters. You will pay for what you have done Elite. Tell your gods that instruments can be broken." I hissed at the Elite, feeling my finger tighten on the trigger.

When I observed the Elite for a second, however what I saw made me pause in surprise and shock. The Elite was not as tall as the rest and actually seemed quite short compared to regular standards, maybe seven feet. Its skin did not seem nearly as rough as the other Elites and actually seemed smoother and shinier. As well, its body was not anywhere near as muscled as the regular Elites, and its body held more of a feminine hourglass figure than a muscled V-shaped torso.

I drew back in shock. Bloody hell, this was probably a female Elite! Looking back down at the Elite, I could see that the Elite had passed out. It…She was still breathing but barely.

"Shit." I muttered to myself and digged into my Trauma Kit. I grabbed some bio foam, and after carefully pulling my knife out of the Elites chest, quickly placed the nozzle into the Elites chest and sprayed the bio foam inside. One the Bio foam had hardened, I went to go check on crystal. I did not want to take off her helmet in case she had a broken skull or neck so I just left it on. There was nothing else I could do beyond that, so after spraying antiseptic fluid on the cut on my face which stung like a bitch, I went over to and picked up my MA5B which was still working.

That was when I saw him. The Spartan was wearing a brown colored Up-Armored Grenadier variant helmet with a black visor. He also had the Grenadier prototype chest piece and Security shoulder pieces. He was also tall, easily 7 and a half feet. His only weapon was MG turret which he held at the ready and pointed at me. His only other noticeable weapon was his combat knife.

Snapping my Assault Rifle off of my back and aiming it at the unidentified Spartan, I barked at him "Who are you? Identify yourself!"

There were a few tense moments before his audible speakers opened up and what I heard him say made my heart skip a beat "Oly oly oxen free. How are you doing Alex?"

* * *

Dun dun dun. Who is this female elite? Is Private Grey/Crystal all right? Who is the unidentified Spartan? You will just have to wait and find out next chapter.

Anyways, im back from Mexico and im burnt to all hell like a deep fried lobster. I typed this up when i had time to do it soooo yeah.

Personally this chapter felt rushed and so like crap to me. Truth is, it probably is, still all feedback except flames are welcome so please review.

**READ AND REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Halo does not belong to me. Only my story and I belong to me. Flynt belongs to Bloodwolf432**

* * *

_Teaser for next chapter_

As I rested in the back of the cave, holding my head in my hands and grieving my dead comrades, I could not help but curse this stupid mission, curse this stupid war. As I pictured my dead squad members, and the fact that they were dead forever, never to know of joy or love or to ever see their families and loved ones ever again, I could not but help feel overwhelmed by the misery that threatened to swallow me up. The tears threatened to spill over, and as I finally looked over to Crystal, cleaning her weapons with a solemn and afraid look, the tears finally spilt over.

My body shook as I silently sobbed, deeply wishing that this fucking war would just end. My teammates were dead, there was no changing that, but the fact that they were dead because of me made it all the worse to bear. I'm supposed to be a leader, a beacon of hope in the gloomy darkness of this war. And I failed my team.

My tears dripped down to the ground, and I cursed my weakness. Spartans were not supposed to cry, not supposed to show emotion… and yet I did. I was a freak among the Spartans, a Frankenstein, an alien. As I sat there at the back of the cave, crying miserably to myself, I barely noticed the pair of arms that wrapped around me in an comforting embrace.

I turned into the embrace, and found myself staring into the eyes of none other than Crystal. Her eyes and face held an alarmed but caring look, and pushing myself against her, holding her close against me, I desperately sought for an anchor on my emotions, desperately sought to keep myself from being swallowed by my own emotions. As Crystal returned the hug, and rubbed her hand in my hair soothingly, I could not but help think that she was truly my sister, truly the only person who understood me fully. She then started to hum, and all of my worries started to leave me as I listened to her, my anchor and lifeline in the chaos know as war.

* * *

I could not believe my eyes right now, standing there in front of me, was Flynt, one of the only Spartans to ever actually go missing in action.

"Flynt? What? What the hell are you doing here? Where the hell have you been all these years!" I barked at him, feeling my emotions rise as I saw a supposedly dead comrade for the first time in over 5 years.

I could not see his features behind his helmet, but I could tell that he must have been frowning as his voice came out a little sharper than what it usually was.

"That's a story for another time. For now, let's get this ODST out of here" He said as if an order.

I frowned at this. We both may have been Spartans, but there was a clearly defined rank system that had been drilled into me for the last 20 years, and I would not allow Flynt to undermine my authority.

"Flynt, I am activating my FOF tag, acknowledge that it is working" I said to him as I pressed a small sensor pad on my leg that could turn my FOF system on and off.

Flynt paused a second before snapping to attention and saying "Commander, sir!"

Nodding to myself, I said "At ease Flynt. I will tell you how I became a Commander later, for now, lets just get these two here to somewhere safe."

"Two? I only see that ODST." Flynt asked of me, looking around the clearing.

He looked around for a second before setting his eyes on the female elite. The only warning that I got was the narrowing of his eyes. I leapt forwards at him at the same time that he snapped his knife out of his sheath and whipped it at the Elite.

The knife bounced harmlessly off the armored plate on the back of my hand, and I turned towards Flynt and glared at him with death in my eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Flynt?" I barked at him, ready to punch him because of the anger that I felt at the stupidity of his actions.

"I'm ridding the universe of one more goddamn Elite, that's what I'm doing!" Flynt roared right back at me his hands clenching and unclenching in irritation and frustration.

"Well this Elite is the first female Elite I have ever seen, and as such, she could be rare or even high ranking in the Covenant. So stand down." I ordered of him, hoping, just hoping that he was not one of those rumored rogue Spartans.

Nothing happened beyond him just staring at me, and I had to admit, coming from Flynt, it was kind of intimidating, but I did not let it show, of course.

Finally, he responded with a joke. "So a female Elite huh? I never thought that you would be into Xenophilia. But hey, whatever floats your boat right?" He chuckled and I could hear the laughter in his voice as well.

I knew that he was joking, but the thought of sleeping with one of those… _Things_, made me want to retch. I couldn't believe that he just said that. Who would even want to sleep with one of those monsters?

I was about to reply with a retort of my own, when all of a sudden, a brute came out of the trees, and spotting us, roared and brandished its grenade launcher.

Both Flynt and I reached for our weapons, but I knew I would not be able to put it down alone, Brutes could take one hell of a beating and still be trying to rip your head off. _Bang! Bang! Click, Click._

I realized with a horrified look on my face, that I forgot to reload my magnum. It was a rookie mistake, and now I was going to end up paying for it with my life. Even as I reached for the Assault Rifle on my back, I knew that I was going to be too late as the Brute aimed its weapon at me. Time seemed to slow down and I could make out the ugly grin on the aliens face, the cold look of a merciless killer and the only thought that went through my mind was _Crystal_.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

It sounded like a sniper rifle had been fired next to my head, and as I cupped my ears to my head in pain, I saw the Brute go down with blood pouring out of its arms, knees, torso, and it now had two new eyes to see out of in it's head.

I snapped my head to where the shooting had come from, and saw Flynt calmly reloading a smoking magnum, however it looked modified. The barrel was larger than the regular M6 series models, and the iron sights had a small laser mounted on the top with a small scope right beside it.

I just looked at Flynt, wondering where the hell he had got, when all he did was glance at me with a single look and said, "Modified. More power, slower firing rate." He rumbled.

But, even as I motioned him to pick up Crystal, and I picked up the Elite, I was completely at a loss of where to go, until Flynt said to me.

"Alex, there are a lot of caves nearby, we can put the ODST and the…. Elite in there and search for something to help us out."

I looked at my Tacpad, and seeing what looked like a good rock formation, I tagged it. Flynt stopped for a second, and then nodding to me, we both headed out. Little did I know what disaster awaited ahead for me.

* * *

**Hey guys, I know that this is a small chapter, but bare with me. I have hit a little writers block on where to go with next chapter, and I need your help. If you read the teaser for next chapter, then I was hoping you guys could come with ideas on what happens to the squad that makes Alex feel so depressed and hopeless. Please, I need your help. Review your ideas, PLEASE! I need MAJOR help here!**


	5. New enemies, bitter failure

I do not own Halo or anything related to Halo. I only own my characters and story. OC's belong to their respective owners.

Alex- Me

Crystal- Me

Flynt- Bloodwolf432

* * *

"So…. how the hell did you wind up as a Commander of an ODST squad? And how did you wind up being a Commander at all? Like what the fuck dude, why can't I be a Commander?" Flynt whined at me, not even pausing to take one breath.

I just uttered curses to myself and glared at him when he wasn't looking. Flynt had been my brother and best friend before he had disappeared a few years ago, and even though in my mind he was still my brother, there were traits about him that had been lost and new ones had replaced them, making him completely different to me. Even so, he still kept the trait of whining and groaning when he wanted to annoy me, and goddamn it if he didn't make me want to throttle him right now and to hell with the consequences.

"Flynt, I have been in over 150 ground operations, I have single handedly killed tens of thousands of Covenant soldiers and I actually followed orders, unlike you." I started with a groan, but had ended up smirking at the end of my vague explanation.

"Hey! I follow orders, just like any good soldier!" He piped up in protest at me.

'Yeah, but unlike you, I didn't get hammered along with a full platoon of Marines and I also did not try to flirt with Commanding officers." I stated the facts at him.

He looked particularly cowed at this, but he immediately resumed his confident walk without glancing at me.

"Yes, well, alcohol tends to do that to you." He shrugged with his unpreoccupied shoulder.

I just shook my head, but kept walking anyway. I was a little nervous to have such a dangerous enemy as an Elite slung over my shoulder, the fact that they were immensely strong, and experts in close quarters combat making me uneasy of having to carry this Elite. Yet, I would rather carry her then let Flynt carry her, as he had already tried to kill her once and she wasn't even conscious.

The fact that my shields did not work since my helmet was destroyed also did not help to relax the tension in my body. All of my instincts screamed at me that this was VERY wrong, and that I should just kill her right now. But my tactical mind yelled right back that female Elites had hardly ever been seen until just a year ago, and not one had been captured alive. She could be used for negotiations or information. So I kept her alive.

Stepping out of a few bushes, I noticed that we now stood in front of many openings in what looked like mountains. Suddenly my heart started to beat faster, whether out of luck or instinct I don't know, but it made my heart start to beat just a bit faster and that made me nervous. Starting to walk towards a tree for nearby cover, I motioned for Flynt to do the same.

He cocked his head at me in a silent question but nonetheless sidled up behind a boulder for cover. As I gently placed the Elite down, I saw in the corner of my eye that Flynt was doing the same to Crystal, albeit more gently because of the unknown severity of damage done to her head and neck. Then with that finished, he grabbed his huge gun and propped it up on the boulder.

"What is it?" He whispered to me over the com link.

"Something's wrong here, see how open the area is? And how there are mountains with really high ledges over there?" I pointed to a few mountains towards the East. "There has been a Covenant presence on this planet for over a year, and yet this area has no signs of ecological damage from machines, or burn marks from plasma. Not a damn thing that suggests this area has been used, almost like it was left open for a reason." I spoke into the mic by my head, glancing around all the while for any signs of hostiles.

Flynt had gone quiet and I saw his head swivel in a whole 180 degrees, covering every possible angle of this area.

"Snipers." He growled out, and I saw him clench his weapon tighter.

I wracked my brain for a way to lure out the snipers and take care of them, however it wasn't easy. Dealing with Snipers was tricky and dangerous business, difficult even by Spartan standards. Jackal snipers had amazing vision and even better reflexes, making them absolutely deadly with Sniper rifles. I had seen too many Marines get their head blown off by Jackal snipers because they tried to find out where the sniper was located.

Finally I came upon one conclusion. We would have to trick him out.

"Hey Flynt? Remember that game that we used to play while playing Capture the Flag against Tango Company?" I grinned at what I was coming to.

Flynt just looked over to me before he said "So who is the rabbit this time?"

I simply pointed to myself before he nodded, and he hunkered down into a stable comfortable firing position.

He flashed a thumbs up at me, and I got ready to sprint.

The 'Rabbit' technique, made famous by Kelly, was an ingenious and very risky move that was designed to force an enemy sniper to reveal his location after he fired at a sprinting person who was the 'rabbit'.

I only hoped that Flynt was a good shot with his rifle, as even a speed augmented Spartan could only dodge a sniper for so long.

Sprinting forward with an explosion of breath, I ran out into the center of the field before quickly juking to the left, and then jumping forward in a roll, as I did my best to make myself a very fast, moving target. Suddenly a purple beam passed right behind my head, and impacted the ground right where I had been not even a second before. Judging by the trajectory of the beam, I followed the visible purple contrail and almost stopped running when I saw a Jackal sniper, posted up in the trees not even 20 feet from Flynt.

"Oh shit!" I yelled in surprise, and threw myself backwards. A bright purple beam passed not even 3 inches away from my face, and I could feel the heat from the lethal superheated plasma as it cut into the ground, leaving a scorched pockmark gouged into the surface of the ground.

As I jumped to my feet, with a growing sense of dread I could tell the sniper was not going to miss next time, and without my shields to take most of the energy of the plasma, I was going to have a fist sized hole burnt right through whichever part of my body got hit.

Suddenly, a deafening roar split the air and I could see the tracer rounds from Flynt's machine gun as he opened up on the trees. The leaves and bark were literally shredded apart as the bullets stitched across the canopy, and the same could be said for the jackal sniper as suddenly a lot of purple blood came pouring down out of the trees, followed by a now deceased and very holey Jackal.

Flynt sauntered up to where the body was, and then glancing down on it he exclaimed "Well… Jackals always did consider themselves holy."

I just turned to glare at him, but I could not help but smile at his joke. It was pretty lame but at the same time, it was a funny joke as the Jackals body was riddled with quarter sized bullet holes.

"Flynt. Next time, you're the one running." I said with an air of finality, and leaving before Flynt could argue back at me I walked over too and picked up the female Elite, hoisting her across my back.

Flynt grumbled but went back, and after picking up Crystal, he started to walk towards the cave entrance muttering "Asshole." under his breath.

"I heard that." I called after him, chuckling.

"Shut up." Was his only reply.

Once we had both arrived at the mouth of the cave, a quick look inside revealed that it actually went pretty deep into the mountains, so far back that I could not see the far wall. It would do perfectly, however the only danger was wild animals, so grabbing my magnum with my free arm and after ensuring that it was loaded, I strode on in, flicking my eyes left and right, looking for any signs that an animal had preoccupied this cave, Flynt following shortly behind me.

As we walked deeper into the cave, I noticed that almost all of the light had disappeared. And even though my genetically enhanced eyes adjusted very well to the dark, so that I could see grey outlines, I still did not like the fact that I could not see everything perfectly.

"Hey Flynt, lead the way, I can't see well enough to continue as point." I spoke, listening to my voice echo off of the walls and continue for a long time.

"Yes sir." He voiced, suddenly striding forward much faster than he had before.

The damn bastard had night vision in his helmet.

Following behind him, I struggled to make out his silhouette in the dark, dodging rocks and stepping over small ridges. Finally he came to a stop, so suddenly that I almost crashed into his back. Knowing better than to speak, I stepped to the side and frowned as I saw that we came to the end of the cave.

I was about to tell him to light a flare, when he popped out a chemical glow stick, snapped it, and tossed it on the ground. The entire cave was lit up in a sickly green color, bathing the walls and casting harsh shadows behind us. As I looked around enclosed area, I could see that most of it was untouched except for a few animal bones here and there, otherwise the area was empty. The cave would make do for now.

Setting down the Elite, and shrugging off my Commando gear, I sat down on a small boulder, keeping my MA5B within arm's reach.

Flynt carefully laid Crystal down on the straightest stretch of ground that he could find, then after that he sat down on a boulder as well. That was then he popped the seals on his helmet and took it off.

Sandy blond hair and silver eyes decorated his tanned face, unique and unnatural even among the Spartans, considering that almost every Spartan, including myself had extremely pale skin due to the fact that we spent most of our time inside our MJOLNIR suits.

Flynt stared back at me, his face and expression unreadable, before he finally broke out into a grin and held out his hand.

"Alex, it's great to see you again. Living for years without seeing you or the rest of my brothers and sisters…. It has been hell for me."

I grinned right back at him, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.

"It's great to see you too Flynt. Where the hell have you been all of these years? Where did you go?" I questioned him, eager and at the same time, afraid of finding out what had happened.

"It's a long story…" He trailed off, looking at the stone ground.

I knew then that it must indeed be long, because he was never afraid of saying what he had wanted before.

"We have a lot of time Flynt, spill it." I ordered, trying to get a signal through to my squad. I snarled in frustration when all I got was static.

Flynt looked at me, took a deep breath and then began his story.

"It was about 3 years ago, during our repelling of the Covenant Invasion at Emerald Cove. Remember how that Fuel Rod explosive took out the Pelican that I was in? Well I survived the explosion and the crash. I waited for 3 days before I got a signal from ONI. They sent in a Pelican and picked me up, just as the Covenant started to glass the planet. We barely made it out of the system before ONI high brass told me that I was now under there command, an operative for their missions. Well, I had performed their missions, ranging from assassinating Insurrectionist Rebel leaders, hostage situations and even sabotage of Covenant forces. All that time, I had no idea what ONI was really doing, how….. evil they truly were. It wasn't until recently, that I learned that ONI was behind the incident with Kurt, and after that I just left. I came here to blow up a hidden ONI base. Just a little bit of target practice." He finished solemnly, eyes downcast and hands held limp by his side.

I practically reeled back from all the information that I had just learned, absolutely astounded at what I had learned. 'ONI was behind the Kurt incident? And they had recruited Flynt for their own plans and purposes? Using him as a puppet practically? ONI has gone too far on this one, had used their power and authority for way too long.'

"Bastards…" I growled out, already feeling my hands clench into fists.

Flynt opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a groan. Snapping my head over, I turned to where the groan came from, and saw Crystal starting to stir. I got up and went to her side, Flynt following closely behind me.

Kneeling down beside her, I gently asked "Crystal? Crystal if you can hear me, don't move, you may have injured your neck and spinal column."

Immediately she went still, but her external helmet mic portrayed her voice through.

"Alex? Wha, what happened?" She moaned out.

"A Commando Elite whacked you on the back of the head, you are lucky to be alive right now." I grinned, glad that she was alive right now.

"So wait, I guess I can move-" She started to move her legs, and I lunged forward to stop her from potentially injuring herself when I realized that she was actually moving her arms and legs with no problem.

She was all right!

I let out the breath that I had been unconsciously holding, sighing in relief. That took care of that problem, now I only have to get into contact with the rest of my squad and start interrogating the Elite once she woke up.

"Hey hey take it easy." I cautioned her, because there was no way to actually know the true extent of her injuries.

"But sir! The rest of our squad is out there, they could be killed, or lost right now and I need to contribute to the mission!" She argued, struggling to rise into a sitting position.

"That wasn't a request, that was an order soldier." I firmly stated, using my authority to ensure that she stayed down to give herself some time to recover.

"Yes sir." She said, then tilting her helmet to look at Flynt she asked "Commander? Who the heck is ... is….." She tried to finish, but trailed off and fell silent, her injuries and exhaustion forcing her into unconsciousness

Looking over to Flynt, I could see that his eyes held some worry for Crystal, which was strange because he had just met her. Catching his glance, I raised my eyebrows at him, and the look in his eyes vanished so quickly that I almost thought that I had been imagining it. Almost.

"Flynt, I need to find the rest of my squad, I want you to watch over the high value target and Crystal until I get back do you-" I was cut off as the sudden staccato report of an MA5B snapped through the air.

I grabbed my assault rifle and started to sprint in the direction that we entered the cave, Flynt following closely behind me with his Machine gun at a speed that should not have been possible. Spartans were strong, and I was no exception however, but Flynt was the second strongest, next to Sam. I remembered that during a training exercise of Capture the Flag against Tango Company, that Flynt had actually grabbed a warthog and literally picked it up and hurtled it at the marines. No one had been injured but the rest of the Spartans had been a little afraid to engage Flynt in hand to hand combat spars other than Sam or Kelly.

Exploding out of the cave, Flynt and I were introduced to a very gruesome sight.

A few ODST corpses lay on the ground, some headless, others either missing limbs or with huge holes inside of them. _MY men._

Letting out a roar of fury, I launched myself into the battle without even pausing to consider the fact that I had no shields or helmet, and that there was no cover in my immediate area.

"Alex, wait!" I heard Flynt call from behind me, but I didn't care. The Covenant were going to pay.

I had my sights set on a minor Elite, and he was currently firing upon one of my men. The ODST jerked to the impact of the superheated plasma, and then he fell limp and collapsed under the merciless barrage.

Screaming in incoherent anger, I launched myself at the Elite and tackled him to the ground. The Elite squirmed and struggled beneath me, trying to break free but I quickly grabbed his head and twisting it with all my might, I practically snapped his head around to face the opposite direction.

A roar to my left alerted me of an approaching Elite, and rolling backwards I just barely evaded a blow to the head that the Elite had aimed at. Leaping up to my feet and lashing outwards, I struck at the Elite like a snake, fast and deadly. I hit it first in the chest and then in the throat, causing it to double over and clutch at its throat. Stepping forward, I grabbed it's arm, twisted it at the elbow and then hammered down on its joint. I could feel the arm shatter beneath my fist and the howl of pain that I was rewarded from the Elite only seemed to further my bloodlust. Then snap-kicking the Elite in the chest, it flew backwards and I pressed onwards, looking for more things to kill.

Eying a Jackal up ahead, I pulled my MA5B Assault rifle off of my back, aimed my sights on the Jackal and pulled the trigger. The bullets tore into the unprotected alien's side, and the Jackal seemed to wither and fold in upon itself as it died silently, collapsing to the ground in a crumple without a sound.

That was when I saw it. It A giant ape like monster of a creature in very formidable armor was tearing into my men with what looked to be a giant hammer. It pummeled, crushed, hammered and even bit at my men, rivers of red blood streaming down its armor. The creature howled and threw its head back to the air, leaping forwards towards me next, causing me to barely roll and move out of the way in time.

'How the fuck can that thing move so fast?' I inwardly cursed, stumbling backwards to evade a horizontal swipe of its hammer.

The beast roared, and with a speed that should not have been possible, rammed it's hammer into my chest and sent me flying to crash to the ground a few meters away.

The pain I felt was unbelievable and absolutely mind numbing, I was sure that I could feel a few broken ribs. The creature stalked over towards me, and with what could only be described as a grin on its face, the creature swung its hammer over its head to smash me into the ground.

I stared defiantly back at my death, waiting for my doom to come, but it never came.

Flynt came hurtling at the creature, and shoved into it, forcing the beast –and its swipe- off balance. Bringing his machine gun to bear, and spinning the barrels up, the air was split with the thunderous growl of his machine gun and hundreds of high velocity, high caliber rounds impacted against the aliens armor. It growled as sparks flew and smoke started to rise out of some armor vents, before it punched at Flynt in an attempt to force him into unarmed combat.

Flynt jumped back though and kept firing, until the creature holed in pain and with a powerful swipe of its arm, sent Flynt crashing to the ground backwards. It was holding its arm, and blood was spattered everywhere, a sure indication that its bone had been shattered. Letting out a long howl, the creature sprinted back towards its main forces, to where the rest of the aliens started to retreat.

As my vision started to blur before my eyes, I could barely see some Covenant ships in the skies above me starting to charge their main plasma batteries. They were going to glass the planet!

I barely felt Flynt picking me up and start to run, heading back towards the direction of the cave. The last thing I saw before I slipped into unconsciousness were the broken bodies of my men and women, littering the battlefield. I had failed them.


	6. Out of the oven and into the freezer

**I do not own Halo or anything related to Halo. I only own my characters and story. OC's belong to their respective owners.**

**Alex- Me**

**Crystal- Me**

**Flynt- Bloodwolf432**

**Ralu ' Keruvee- Me**

* * *

Consciousness came back in the form of a splitting headache and pained breathing. I groaned in pain as I opened my eyes, eyeing the enveloping stonewalls and green sickly light. I was back in the cave. Wincing as I tried to sit up, I gasped as a sudden rush of pain lanced up my side, knocking the breath out of me and jolting me forward in surprise. Pained breathing told me that I had a fractured rib, and the unceasing throbbing of my head all pointed towards the symptoms of concussion. Nothing serious all in all, I had received and had survived much more serious injuries. Treatment could wait, right now, I had to find out where the rest of my squad-

Suddenly everything came back to me. The fight between the Covenant and my ODST's, that weird Ape like creature with that hammer and…. The Glassing!

My squad! I immediately bolted upright into a standing position, and started to run in the direction that swallowed up the most light, knowing that that was the direction to the caves entrance.

I heard someone call out from behind me "Alex, wait!" But I didn't pay any attention; I just kept running, hoping against all impossibility that some of my squad had somehow managed to survive. A sliver of light in the swallowing darkness guided my path and somehow, I managed to not trip on any cracks or rocks on the ground. The sliver of light grew into a light filled doorway, and as I finally burst out of the cave, a lung full of ash and a wave of heat rammed into me.

I coughed and staggered against my confusion, and when I finally cleared the cave and opened my eyes, my heart almost stopped at what I saw. The sky was chocked with inky dust, ash and charcoal, smothering out the light of the nearby star and casting a hellish red haze over the surrounding area. The land had been stripped of all sign of vegetation, the only things left been a few burning tree stumps and trunks. Ash lay all over the land, casting a depressing grey all over the land. All of the nearby lakes had been evaporated of all water, steam still rising from where animals had once came to drink and where fish had swam. I stepped forward, the ground underneath me crunching and cracking, the sand having been replaced glass. If there was a hell, then the scene right before me would be the closest thing to it.

There were no sounds, no rusting leaves, breezing wind or any animal callings, only the faint sound of burning wood. The overall silence was smothering, and as I walked forward, I was acutely aware of the sound of my own strained breathing and the crunching of the ground beneath my feet. As I gazed at scenes of horror upon horror, I could not help but feel that the universe had abandoned humanity. How could the universe allow an enemy such as the genocidal Covenant to be given access to weapons that could ravage a planet? Too strip this planet's surface of all life and erase its existence from the rest of the galaxy?

Life was unfair, and the galaxy held horrors that are best left undiscovered, but what life threw at me next was by far the cruelest act it could inflict upon me, and the sight would haunt me for the rest of my life.

My breath slowed as I saw an ODST helmet laying on the ground, half covered by the ash, already showered with gray soot. I couldn't hear anything as I slowly walked over towards it; the only sound that I could hear was the steady thumping of my heart. I slowly bent down and pick it up, and as I turned it over I felt my breath hitch in my chest. The helmet was scorched and partially melted, the Titanium Grade-A metal warped and twisted into an almost unrecognizable shape. The reflective visor had been burnt, forever staining the shattered glass and rendering it useless. But the worst part of all was the name. It had practically been all but evaporated but the shadow had been stained underneath and it was clearly readable. _Cpl. Frailaa._

I felt like I had been sucker punched in the chest, the twisting hands of agony and sadness clutching onto my heart and squeezing tight. I felt sick to my stomach and unsteady, unable to remain standing as I fell to my knees. The name stared back at me, as if mocking me, yelling at me that I had failed to protect and lead my squad. The water misted up in my eyes, and I had no hope of controlling the tears as they streaked down my face, leaving a shining trail. A strangled sob left my mouth as I continued to stare at the helmet, my body starting to uncontrollably shake as multiple sobs started to wrack my body, some of the tears dripping onto the mangled helmet and leaving marks of their own.

I had failed to protect my men, had failed to lead them when they needed me the most. And now they were dead, vaporized by the Covenants glassing.

I stopped sobbing and clenched my jaw at that word. Covenant. The bastards that were responsible for the deaths of trillions of humans. Responsible for the death of my Spartan brothers and sisters. Responsible for the death of my squad. I balled my hands into fists and growled at that word. Covenant. White hot fury raging throughout my body just because of that word. Covenant. I dropped the helmet and started hammering the ground with my fists, cracking the glass and leaving large fist imprints in the solid dirt. Growling and snarling, I started to yell loudly in anger, venting my fury.

Covenant. The bastards who had ruined my life. Had ruined the lives of all Humanity. The white hot rage kept building up inside of me and finally the fury inside me reached a boiling point, and throwing my head back to the ash choked sky I opened my mouth and screamed in anger. To anyone or any animals that were close enough by to hear, all they heard was the broken, incoherent scream of my agony induced rage, striking deep into their hearts and souls.

I do not remember walking back to the cave. I do not remember picking up the wrecked ODST helmet. I don't remember anything really. But now that all of my anger was gone, all that was left was my agony, driving its thorns deep into my heart, ensuring that I won't soon forget my failure as a leader and how I had gotten my entire squad killed.

As I rested in the back of the cave, holding my head in my hands and grieving my dead comrades, I could not help but curse this stupid mission, curse this stupid war. As I pictured my dead comrades, and the fact that they were dead forever, never to know of joy or love or to ever see their families and loved ones ever again, I could not but help feel overwhelmed by the misery that threatened to swallow me up. The tears threatened to spill over, and as I finally looked over to Crystal, cleaning her weapons with a solemn and afraid look, the tears finally spilt over.

My body shook as I silently sobbed, just wishing that this fucking war would just end. My teammates were dead, there was no changing that, but the fact that they were dead because of me made it all the worse to bear. I'm supposed to be a leader, a beacon of hope in the gloomy darkness of this war. And I failed my team.

My tears dripped down to the ground, and I cursed my weakness. Spartans were not supposed to cry, not supposed to show emotion… and yet I did. I was a freak among the Spartans, a Frankenstein, an alien. As I sat there at the back of the cave, crying miserably to myself, I barely noticed the pair of arms that wrapped around me in a comforting embrace.

I turned into the embrace, and found myself staring into the eyes of none other than Crystal. Her eyes and face held an alarmed but caring look, and pushing myself against her, holding her close against me, I desperately sought for an anchor on my emotions, desperately sought to keep myself from being swallowed by my own emotions. As Crystal returned the hug, and rubbed her hand in my hair soothingly, I could not but help think that she was truly my sister, truly the only person who understood me fully. She then started to hum, and all of my worries started to leave me as I listened to her, my anchor and lifeline in the chaos know as war.

I had no idea how long I had held on to Crystal for, but when I finally did let go, I felt myself at a calm that I had truly never felt before. I looked deep into Crystals eyes, silently telling her how grateful I was for her, grateful for how she saw me as a Human and not a Spartan, how she saw me as a friend and more, not just a leader and comrade. I did not trust myself to speak right now for fear of my voice cracking.

She must have understood because her face broke out into a small grin, and giving me a slight peck on the forehead, she went back to cleaning her weapons.

I sighed and looked at the ground once more, idly glancing over at the broken, mangled ODST helmet. The death of my squad hit me hard, really hard. However, wounds would heal given time, and somewhere in the back of my mind, some small part of me was telling me that I was going to have a long time to heal. Still, it hurt and it hurt deep.

I was drawn from my self-pity and loathing when I saw a armored boot appear in front of my vision. I looked up and saw Flynt's hard, determined face staring back at me, a hint of urgency in his eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him and he replied.

"The Elite is awake." He grimly stated.

I nodded and got up, my face turning into the cold emotionless mask that all Spartans were trained to have. I heard CPO Mendez's words ring inside of my head, one of the lessons that he had constantly hammered into us until it was practically second nature.

"_You are Humanities greatest warriors! The greatest warriors do not allow anyone to read them to figure out what they are feeling or thinking! You will be cold, you will be lethal, and you will be unstoppable! You will be Spartans!"_

Looking over to the Elite, I could indeed see that she was awake, glancing around the cave before settling a hate-filled gaze upon me.

Looking over to Flynt, I could see his fists clenching and his whole body tensing. I could not see his face behind his mask, but I imagined that if I could, I would see bared teeth and a death glare directed right at the Elite. Catching Flynt's attention I made a few quick hand gestures that were to Crystal's eyes, just small minute ticks and a barely imperceptible nod. Flynt had agreed to not harm the Elite. For now at least.

I walked over to the Elite, who had been crudely chained to the wall with some spider silk rope and a small piece of Titanium rebar that I had no idea where it came from. The Elite struggled against her bindings, but to no avail. She was not going anywhere for a while.

I looked into her eyes, and I was surprised at the amount of hate in those golden green orbs. They held only hate, no fear or pain, the only other emotion been the smallest amount of curiosity.

"What is your name?" I asked her, standing directly in front of her and stone still.

She cocked her head for a moment and stared at me with an unreadable expression.

"So, this is what a demon looks like underneath its skin." She spoke and I couldn't tell if she was speaking in cryptic or more towards herself.

"I asked you a question Elite, I suggest you answer it." I replied back stiffly.

The Elite gazed at me with that blank face of hers again before replying "Spec Ops Commander Ralu' Keruvee."

I quickly glanced over towards Flynt and Crystal, and both of them nodded, heading towards the entrance of the cave.

The situation had just become a hell of a lot more complicated.

"What do you mean, Spec Ops Commander? Only the highest of Covenant Elites are awarded with such a prestigious position. And you're a female. The UNSC has barely seen any female Elites in all of this damned war." I demanded of her, using words and cold intimidation to get answers out of her.

The Elite visibly stiffened at the mention of her being a Female and stiffly demanded "How did you know I was female?"

I hesitated at this, before deciding that it would okay to answer her question.

"Well I actually knew you were a female right when I patched you up. Your body has a more feminine curve then a muscled V-shape torso that all regular Elites have, your skin is smoother and shinier then all of the others, and your finally shorter than the rest of the Elites. Plus your name confirms that you are a female, unless every Elite in your culture has a feminine name." I replied, eyeing her body up and down, reconfirming my assumptions.

Surprisingly, Ralu seemed to blush at this, the skin where mandibles connected turning a deeper shade of bluish-gray and she looked away for a brief second before turning her head back to me again.

"So, while you have been eying and noticing my body, why have you not killed me yet?" She hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits that looked almost like snake eyes.

I couldn't help myself but blush at her comment of me 'eying her body' and although I felt the heat rushing to my face I ignored it and focused right back at her, narrowing my eyes as well.

"You are a more valuable to the UNSC alive then dead. That's why I have not killed you yet Ralu." I snarled right back at her, hissing her name at the end with disdain.

"Do not call me that!" Ralu snapped at me, struggling against her bonds with even more vigor.

When it was apparent that she was not going to break free, she stopped thrashing around and grew still, glaring death at me.

"Or else what? What do you think you can do to me? Your tied up and currently wounded, which will inhibit your fighting abilities if you ever manage to break free. Also, if you manage to take me down which I highly doubt you could, my two comrades over there will tear you apart. And if by some random stroke of luck you somehow manage to take all of us down, you are screwed anyway. The ash and debris from you Covenant glassing the planet has choked up the sky, blocking all sunlight from getting through and making it impossible to radio in for help. Soon, this place will start to freeze over and I doubt you would be able to hunt for food if there is any left, and keep warm all by yourself while your wounded." I stated the facts, already getting worried at what I had just said.

Where would we go for shelter? Obviously not here, there is no water or food of any sort here, and when the cold rolls in, a cave won't do much to keep us warm. Flynt, Crystal and I would be ok because we had our combat suits, but even then that wouldn't last too long against the cold. We had only a dozen protein bars between the three of us, and whatever water we have in our canteens. We would have to walk for quite awhile to find water and food that could sustain all four of us.

That's when it hit me. Flynt said that he had come here to blow up a hidden ONI base when I had first saw him. Perhaps there was food and water there, plus some electricity or power that could help us to keep warm. It was a definite maybe, most ONI bases that I had been too had practically been built like fortresses, able to withstand a 10 megaton nuke without having any major structural damage, and had food and water supplies that could sustain all of the ONI personnel for up to 3 years if rationed properly. Maybe, just maybe we could make it there and live there until we could somehow manage to get a signal out to UNSC Command and get picked up.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Ralu's low growling voice. "So then demon, I have told you my name so what is yours?"

I looked deep into her eyes, looking for any sort of mockery or deceit. I was surprised when I found none, and I was honestly surprised by her question.

"My name… is Spartan-099 Alex." I answered to her, then turning on my heel, I walked towards the front of the cave towards Flynt and Crystal.

We had a lot of planning ahead of us.

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**Hey guys it's me! Lookie here, another chapter! Anyways on to buissness.**

**When I last updated this story, over the first 5 days there had been over a total 180 visitors and 600 hits. And only 6 people reviewed. **

**Come on guys! Seeing those kind of statistics makes me wonder if most people out there don't care for the story, and are too selfish to just take 5 minutes of there time and leave me a review, whether supportive or critical.**

**Special thanks to all of those readers that have reviewed and supported me so far, your reviews have really helped me improve.**

**BTW, If anyone has questions about the story, either PM me, or leave your question in a review. Thanks everone!**

**READ AND REVIEW!**


	7. Authors request on a lemon

**Hey guys. Sadly this is not a chapter, and there won't be a chapter up for a bit due to problems which I will explain later, but rather this is a request.**

**Okay, while I have been gone, I have been jotting ideas down and I know where my story will go for quite abit. However, I have stumbled onto a plot that hangs on the balance of you readers. Eventually, possibly 7-8 chapters more into the story, there will be an opportuity for a lemon with the female elite, Ralu. I am asking you readers what you would like because I don't want to scare you all away with a Spartan/Elite lemon. Depending on how many readers want a lemon or not, the story will either progress into a kinda of fluffy romance, or an occasional wild fire passion filled night.**

**Give reviews or private messages on whether or not you would prefer the Lemon, or would be too grossed out by it. This alone will determine the Spartan/Elite potential future relationship.**

**For those who don't know, a "lemon" is a chapter or chapter filled story written sex between two or more characters.**

**Once again, this is all up too you readers and reviewers. Tell me what you want.**

**The reason another chapter won't be up soon is because my Laptop was smashed at school by this damn idiot. Although he is paying for a new one, It won't be back in for another week or two and I don't have a main computer to use at home. This message is been written at a friends house.**

**Thanks everyone for considering this authors note, but don't fret. A new chapter should be up in a week or two, until then, keep on reading and writing.**


	8. Authors request on Lemon FINISHED

**Well the results are in. I have received 13 reviews in the past day, and I have to say….. I am utterly shocked and surprised at the amount of supporters of Lemons that there are. 13 reviews, all of them supporting the lemon. You guys are either mature enough to handle it, or you are all just Xenophiliac perverts. Lol, just kidding, so I WILL be writing a lemon later on, just so you all know.**

**To Aspergian Mind and Epic Banana, I will heed your warnings well don't worry, although to Epic Banana, If you could discuss this Elite code of Honor with me and help me understand it, I would greatly appreciate it and would be able to write better.**

**BTW, this will be my FIRST lemon ever sooo….. yeah, go easy on the noobie all right? Special thanks to everyone who has read my story and supported me so far, you guys are truly what keeps me writing and sometimes up to up to 4 AM in the morning writing chapters. Lol. But really, thanks for all the love and support!**


	9. Bumps in the dark

So Soooooo sorry for the wait that you all had too suffer. My labtop was smashed and my computer had been infected with a worm and completely destroyed everything, so we had to get a new computer, and in that time, i couldnt find any time to type or use anything to type. However, here is another chapter, and I promise you that the next update will be in between 1-2 weeks. Also I know this chapter is short, and not as good as my other ones, but it's been a month and I am rusty write now. But please, enjoy this chapter.

**I do not own Halo. All Oc's belong to me and their respective authors.**

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"… So let me get this straight. We are going to hike to the hidden ONI base here, and if there is enough food, water and power to last us longer than a year, we are going to stay there and wait until the fallout from the Covenant glassing allows to get a signal to UNSC Command for Evac?" Flynt asked incredulously.

I turned my head to glare at him. "If you have a better idea, I'm open for suggestions." I snapped at Flynt.

The pressure and the reality of our situation was starting to strain my temper, and I could slowly feel the anger start to well up inside of me.

Flynt didn't even blink at my outburst. "Well what are we going to do about the Elite? I cannot- **Will not**- allow that… MONSTER to run free with us for a year!" Flynt all but spat the last part out.

I sighed helplessly. I did not like this one bit either, but this Elite would be extremely valuable to the UNSC war effort as a prisoner that we could interrogate.

I was about to explode at Flynt. He may have been my brother in all ways but blood and flesh, but he was a stranger to me now. He was not the Flynt that I had not known all those years ago. I did not trust him fully yet, and the way that he was acting so confident, so sure of himself that he was better then me, it made me want to punch his face in.

"Alex" Crystal thankfully spoke up, halting my anger in it's tracks "Why don't we leave the Elite here while we go and scout ahead, tie her down somewhere and make sure that this base actually exists before we drag her along?"

"No, that won't work" Flynt shook his helmeted head "The ONI base is at least 20 clicks from here, we can't risk leaving it here for that long alone."

"Well what are we going to do? I don't want to even think of the complications of taking that Elite with us." Crystal shuddered.

Both of their heads turned towards me.

Shit, what the hell was I supposed to do? I was used to assaulting the enemy, hitting them fast and hard and then retreating out of the area and defending a fixed position. Escorting a high value target in an apocalypse wasteland was out of my league.

I looked at both Flynt and Crystal. It was barely perceptible, but I could see the slightest waver in Crystal's stance. She was tired and still woozy from that blow that she received from that Elite, plus watching all of her comrades getting glassed couldn't have been helping either. Flynt however was a whole other story.

His armor was battered and dented in places, and some of the brown paint had started peeling off to reveal the matte steel underneath. His faceplate was slightly cracked and scorch marks pockmarked his armor, from head to toe. His right shoulder pauldron was warped and twisted into a black lump, and blood oozed from his left knee joint. All in all, he looked like hell. The only thing giving away his exhaustion was the small slouch in his shoulders. He must have been fighting for days before we arrived to be as exhausted as he was now.

We needed to find a place to rest and repair our equipment and we had to get their as quick as we could. But there was one thing that I needed to make clear before we headed out.

I turned to look at Flynt. He may have been a stranger to me now, even though he had once been my brother. We had all been brothers and sisters… always watching out for each other. And we wouldn't stop now. "Flynt, that hidden ONI base that you were talking about, what is it called?" I asked him.

Flynt favored me with a simple shrug of his shoulders "It is designated as Thor Base, after the Norse god of thunder."

I shook my head to myself. Thor wielded the hammer Mjolnir, the name of the armor that Spartans wore. Seemed like to much of a coincidence to me to be just random. There was one other thing though.

"Number of base personnel?" I questioned. If there were a lot of ONI base personnel, it would either turn into one big massive clusterfuck really fast, or Flynt, Crystal and I would be considered War heroes, depending on how corrupt the ONI personnel were.

"There are supposed to be approximately 50 ONI staff and…." Flynt trailed off for a second. "A platoon of SPARTAN-III's" Flynt finished with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Shit. Crystal looked at me with question in her eyes, and I interrupted her before she could ask. "Ill tell you later Crystal." She looked like she was going to protest, but she thankfully remained silent and just nodded.

Damn. Why do situations always go FUBAR on me? A ONI hideout called Thor Base, with a number of 50 ONI personnel and a Platoon of SPARTAN-III's. ONI has a LOT of secrets.

Well we had to take the Elite with us one way or another, so that was out of the question. However, would we need to engage with the ONI personnel and the SPARTAN-III's? I hoped not. Flynt and I were SPARTAN-II's and even though we may be taller, stronger, faster, better equipped and better trained then our SPARTAN-III brethren, there were only 2 of us and over 16 of them. We would not win.

However, I needed to make a decision and so I did.

"We are taking the Elite with us." I ordered, and I saw Flynt quietly tense up. "Flynt, I want you to go scout ahead and tell me if there are any signs of ANY enemy activity. Anything you see that you think I should know or that is out of place, even if it is just a hunch, I want to know." I quickly ordered him, hoping that he would listen and calm down.

He drew up to his full height which was about 7'4 and stared me down. I glared right back at him. Outwardly, I was an emotionless, intimidating figure. Inwardly, I was slightly scared. Flynt was unusually big, even by Spartan standards, and was strong enough to flip a warthog even outside of his MJOLNIR armor. If I had to fight him, I don't know if I would come out alive.

Crystal placed her hand on his arm in a daring move, and said "Spartan, please."

No one spoke for a least a minute, and the tension became so thick in the air, that I imagined that there would be resistance if I tried to move my arm.

I thought that Flynt was going to grab her arm and break it, but all he did was snarl, and grabbing his Machine Gun, he stormed off towards the entrance of the cave, ironically as silent as a ghost.

I mentally sighed and looked to Crystal, looking at her with what was hopefully gratitude on my face. It must have been, for she smiled and patted me on the arm and then she wordlessly picked up her MA5B and put her helmet on, the visor instantly polarizing into the cold silver of an ODST. Humanities finest.

I sighed again and then steeled my emotions, and stalked back towards where the Elite was. I was mentally debating on how I was going to get the Elite to come with us if she wouldn't cooperate. If she was trouble, I would have to put her out but I did not want to risk injuring her, and bound or not she was most likely going to be a dangerous adversary if she resisted.

I saw the sickly green light of the chemical stick up ahead, and I entered the small chamber.

Ralu was still there where we had bound her, her eyes closed. I could not tell if she was awake or not, so I stood a bit back from her before shouting at her.

"Hey wake up!"

Her eyes instantly snapped open and it was slightly creepy.

She raised her head up to regard me with curious eyes.

"Ah, so you return. So demon, what have you got planned for me. Are you going to execute me? Or perhaps are you going to torture me? Well you will not get any information out of me so you might as well kill me right now." She growled at me, and the way her eyes glared at me made me uneasy.

I caught myself reaching for the magnum at my hip and stopped, shaking my head.

"If only you were so lucky Elite" I told her, my tone flat and empty of emotion.

There was no way she could get out of here if she escaped, so I told her where we were going.

"There is a hidden ONI base about an afternoons walk from here, and we are going to hole up there while we wait for the fallout from your friends glassing to subside before we send a signal to UNSC HQ for Evac. Now you are a high value target to the UNSC war effort, so I can't afford to kill you, and you are going to come along with us. Now the choice is up to you. Are you going to come along easily, or is this going to turn ugly?" I asked of her, my hand unconsciously reaching towards the knife situated at the base of my back.

Ralu didn't move or even blink at the information that I had just told her and for a moment, I thought that she was going to resist. But finally she cocked her head to the side and said only one word.

"Why?" She asked of me, her golden snake like eyes betraying her curiosity and distrust.

I frowned at her question. "Why what?"

"Why do you do this? Why do you hold me as a prisoner, instead of me killing me? Why do you need me?" She growled at me.

I sighed at this as all the memories of burning cities, dead civilians and dead comrades zoomed by in my mind's eye. Despite my best efforts, my emotions betrayed me and my emotionless face crumbled to show the exhaustion and the look of a man who had seen too much death, who had become numb to death.

"We are tired of this war" I whispered. 'We are tired of all the needless death that has resulted from the Covenant. From you. Billions of our people killed mercilessly and brutally, for no reason that we can see. Dozens of worlds glassed, because you Covenant think that you are gods and have the right to decide who lives or dies. That's why." I finished, and without saying another word I cut the spider silk rope with my knife and yanked the titanium rebar out of the war, leaving only Ralu's hands still bound.

She knelt down on her knees for a moment, before standing up straight and looking at me with an unreadable expression. At least I thought it was unreadable, I wouldn't be able to the equivalent of an Elites happy smile to a deranged one.

Finally she looked away, and with a grunt of irritation, she began walking through the tunnel that would lead to the entrance of the cave.

I inwardly sighed with relief, but kept my assault rifle trained on her as walked behind her, fingers hovering over the trigger but just not touching. It never hurt to be careful.

As the red cloudy light began to seep in from the mouth of the cave, I mentally prepared myself for the walk that we were about to endure. You might think that seeing an apocalyptic wasteland would not have fazed a Spartan, but _living and breathing_ in it was an entirely different matter. As we finally emerged from the cave, I could feel the same sense of sadness and anger start to flood me. I mentally shrugged it off as best as I could and focused on the mission. I looked at my Tacpad and saw that the indicator that Flynt had marked where the ONI base would be. It was a bit ways away…. I did not want to get caught outside at night right now. It was warm now, but pretty quickly it would start to cool down and I did not want to be here when that happened.

Ralu looked over her shoulder at me, and I jerked my head in the direction of the base. She growled lowly, but turned to her right and started walking. I followed behind her, and after a minute of walking, we came upon Crystal. She was blending in against some ash covered trees so well covered that I could barely make out her silhouette, and I could feel some pride at how smart she was. I clicked my Cochlear implant three times, and suddenly she rose from the shadows like a ghost. Ralu had stopped to stare at Crystal, and Crystal glared at Ralu for a moment before reporting to me.

"Sir, there are no signs of any Covenant activity in the immediate vicinity."

I only nodded before raising Flynt on my teams frequency.

"Flynt, report. What do you see?" I

A few moments ticked by before he replied "Not a damn thing for as far as I can see. This place is dead for at least 30 clicks."

"Roger that Flynt, keep me updated." I instructed him and closed the channel.

I looked to Crystal and she only nodded before taking off ahead of us and melting into the shadows. The eerie hellish red light casted many dark shadows all over the place, perfect for enemies to hide and launch ambushes from or to scout from. I wasn't going to take any chances here.

I turned my eyes towards Ralu not even 5 seconds later and ordered her. "Move it."

She snarled at me, but did not resist and resumed walking and I resumed behind her, flitting my eyes from shadow to shadow. My instincts screamed that it was a trap, but logic told me that there wasn't possibly any other living creature nearby that was a threat to us. I mentally shrugged the feeling off, and focused on moving forward

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Behind the group, not even 200 feet away, a creature raised its heard toward the sky and sniffed deeply. The scent was stronger now, it drove the creature wild with anticipation and excitement. The creature growled low in its throat as it stalked its prey. The creature felt indescribable fury boil in its blood at the sight of the Elite, held captive by the filthy demons. It wanted nothing more to rip apart the group by itself, feel the ripping of muscles and shattering of bones, savor the taste of its prey's blood on its tongue. It would be a glorious feat if achieved, but it would not. It would wait and report as it was instructed to do. The creature reached a massive hand towards its belt and activated a small transmitter. The transmitter beeped twice before growing quiet and the creature smiled. Its pack had just been alerted that it had found and was following them, and now they would join it. The hunt was now on and soon it would be able to tear its prey apart, bit by bit.

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**There you are folks, one more chapter, please tell me where I can improve on, or just leave a review that states what you think. Once again, sorry for such a long wait.**


	10. Revelations

I do not own Halo. Halo belongs to Bungie. All oC's belong to their respective authors.

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"What do you think will happen when we just knock on their front door?" Flynt asked me sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes at this. Flynt had told me all about how ONI knew that he had gone AWOL, and that their orders were to pacify and detain Flynt until he could be interrogated for information and other dirty secrets that he had uncovered on ONI. Which were a lot.

"Well for starters I might ask them to kindly let us in and how we could all be civil and polite in the face of this Armageddon. Oh and also while I'm at it, I will ask for a hot bath, a vacation and oh I don't know, a weapon to defeat the Covenant." I replied, playing along with his game.

"Oh yes, cause we all know that ONI just absolutely loves us SPARTAN'S, and does not consider us puppets by any means whatsoever. We also know that they will do as we ask, just because they love us so much."

"Yeah, your totally right. Except the part about defeating the Covenant. ONI can't do shit when it comes to that. What are they gonna do? File some angry paperwork at us?"

"Well if it is by any indication of the messages that I have seen Colonel Akerson send you then it is a weapon to truly be feared." Crystal piped up from ahead of us, her helmet long abandoned since the VISR system had broken .

Crystal tossed a smirk back at us, and Flynt and I shared a look before we started laughing. The thought of being killed by an angry message was terrifyingly laughable indeed.

"Shut up humans! The Blasphemy spewing from your putrid mouth is hurting my ears. You are only lucky that the Covenant hasn't devoted all of its resources into destroying you heretics and your colonies and is instead trying to find artifacts of the almighty forefunners! You are nothing more then plants that are about to swept away in the glory of the Covenant!" Ralu finished with a snarl and a fire in her eyes that was equally as malicious as it was passionate about her Covenant.

Flynt whipped his head back at her, already levelling his Heavy Machine Gun at her, and the only reason he didn't fire was because I quickly barked at him to stand down.

He audibly growled in anger and frustration at Ralu.

"Your Covenant will fall against us, like water against stone, your Covenant will be met with us 'heretics' and will be giving lead to eat and their own blood to drink!" Flynt snapped, and then stormed ahead of us without a second glance back at any of us.

Crystal only sighed once before shouldering her rifle and following Flynts trail through the valley between the two mountains that we were walking through. The rocks were still red hot, and visible heat waves were rising in front of us, creating an image of moving air.

It was hot, uncomfortably so, but bearable. A single sweat drop slipped down my nose, my face, then dripped off of my chin and spattered on the hot rock below, where it instantly sizzled and evaporated.

I looked back at Ralu and found her wavering on her feet (Hooves?) dangerously, swaying side to side. Yet she made no noise, as if she was too proud to show any weakness in front of me. I would be just the same as her.

I wordlessly grabbed the canteen from the webbing at my waist and tossed it to Ralu.

She managed to catch it, and then looked at me with a distrustful but curious gaze.

"Its water, not poison Elite. So drink up." I snarled. And then I started walking again. I didn't hear the gulping sound of Ralu drinking nor did I hear the sound of her walking again and I wouldn't care if I did either. My patience was at an end with Ralu's temper and the idea of just letting Flynt shoot her was starting to become very appealing to me.

"Flynt, this is Alex, report." I spoke into the mic. The sound of a garbled transmission was the only thing I heard. The rocks and heat must be interfering with radio communications.

* * *

Flynt was angry, no, absolutely seething with anger. The arrogance of that… that _monster_ was just too much for him to handle. The Covenant were just a band of religious zealots and abominations, and if it were up to Flynt, he would kill each and every last one of the Covenants members with his own bare hands, to rip them apart and strike paralysing terror into the hearts of its members. Alas, Alex was the only reason that he hadn't killed the Elite 4 times over.

Alex…. He was strange to Flynt, in a way that Flynt could never understand. When he was younger, he took no prisoners and gave no mercy. But now here he was, protecting this one Elite, even if she was important to the Human war effort.

Flynt whirled his head around to be met with the sight of Crystal making her way over to him when he heard the crunching of small rocks behind him. Crystal was also enigmatic at best to him. Flynt was a good judge of character based on body language but he just couldn't quite figure her out.

Crystal held herself with the authority and confidence that came along with the pride of been an ODST. She walked with sure, calculated steps but at the same time she cradled her rifle close to her, as if afraid or insecure. In short, what Flynt summarised her up to be was confident and proud but afraid. That didn't make any sense to him, but it would have to wait until later, as he was snapped out of his inner monologue when Crystal asked him a question.

"So…. what's your story?"

Flynt looked back at her and mentally wondered to himself what she meant.

"What do you mean?" He finally spoke.

Crystal looked at him with curiosity just brimming in her eyes and asked

"How did you and Alex become friends?"

Flynt grinned to himself. Now _that _was a good story.

"Well… it happened in an innocent game of Capture The Flag…"

* * *

Flashback 16 years

"_Blue-Five and Blue-Six, you are cut off from all escape routes. Find a place to hole up in until we can extract you. Blue-One out." Came John's voice from the radio at his side. Flynt looked towards Alex who just shook his head. The problem was that they had nowhere to hole up. They sat there for an hour, brain storming ideas together until Flynt suddenly perked up with an impish grin on his face._

"_Hey Alex… what if we took the warthog to Tango company's base and… __**Improvise**__?" _

_Alex looked back up at Flynt with an evil smirk to match Flynt's own and asked "What are you thinking?"_

"_Well… it involves bombs and flying." _

_2 hours later_

"_Alex, are you in position?" Flynt whispered into his throat mic._

"_Affirmative. Let's bring the pain." Alex's excited voice came through the mic._

_Flynt took a deep breath and hammered the gas pedal. The Warthog's tires squealed on pavement until they caught, and Flynt was pressed into the back of his seat at the sudden acceleration. The lights of a patrol of marines from Tango Company up ahead all converged onto the Warthog and bullets started to chew through the metal. Most of the bullets missed him, but those that found there mark bounced harmlessly off of the protective alloy that he wore. As he neared his target, he set the Warthog to autopilot and jumped out of the Warthog as he drove right at the Marines. _

_All of the marines dived out of the way of the speeding vehicle, and before they could even recover, Flynt was upon them. Each fist he threw was fast and accurate, always hitting their mark and 3 marines were already down by the time the last 2 had spotted him. _

"_We are under attack by Spartans at Grid seven-zero-niner by zero-five-two over. Requesting assistance!" One of the marines shouted into his helmets boom mic, before he was silenced by the other marine that Flynt had grabbed and thrown at him._

_Flynt waited a few seconds before saying into his mic. "Execute phase 2."_

_There was no reply, but Flynt knew that that Alex had received his orders when a couple of bright lights strobed in the darkness. Flashbangs. Flynt ran ahead and saw the damage that Alex had already done. 5 marines already lay unconscious, and 4 others stumbled around while rubbing at their eyes and clutching their ears. Flynt knocked them out as easily one would blink, and he stopped when what he saw gave him an idea. _

_The Warthog he had driven had crashed into a pole and was now a crumpled, flaming wreck. But the Machine Gun was still intact. Running up to the Warthog and avoiding gunfire while he did so, he grabbed on to the Warthogs turret and gave it a hefty pull. The turret and it's ammo belt came off, and putting the bullets over his shoulder Rambo style, Flynt levelled the Turret at the inactive Scorpion nearby and fired. A heavy, thunderous roar filled the air has Flynt sent hundreds of 12 mm, high velocity bullets straight into the treads of the Scorpion. He then fired right at the marines once the Scorpions treads were mangled wrecks._

_All the marines screamed and dove for cover as the bullets ripped up the ground, kicking up dirt and debris. Flynt's face was awash in hellish red and he looked the a demon at that point, spraying destruction at 60 bullets per second._

_3 chain explosives alerted Flynt of Alex's escape plan, and as he turned his head, he saw Alex dive out of the hole he made on the third floor, hit the ground and roll and come up running with the flag on his back. _

_It was time for them to leave. Dropping the turret, Flynt grabbed onto the Warthogs bet roll cage, and with a roar of anger, he used all of his strength to toss the mangled wreck straight at the marines. The Warthog fell short, but that didn't stop the marines from screaming and shouting in fear while breaking formation. As Flynt ran away from all of the destruction behind him, he couldn't help but smile. Mission accomplished._

_Flashback end_

* * *

"… and that's when Alex and I came to be good friends." Flynt finished with a little flourish.

He looked over to Crystal, only to chuckle at what he saw. Crystal's eyes were nearly popping out of her head, and her mouth was wide open. Flynt would have made a comment about her attracting bugs, if there were any bugs left alive from the Covenants glassing.

"Just a regular day as a Spartan." Flynt said and continued walking, leaving a stunned Crystal behind him.

* * *

We were setting up camp for the night in a small clearing that Flynt had found. The ambient heat from the Covenant glassing had cooled down enough to make the air comfortably warm, and we needed to stop. Ralu was starting to slow down and I would not push her till she collapses from exhaustion. I was humane after all.

"All right, were about 10 clicks away from our objective." I addressed Crystal and Flynt. "We will march out at 0600 hours rest up while you can for we will alternate watch with 2 hour shifts. I will go first, then Flynt and finally you Crystal."

Flynt nodded wordlessly, and set up at the farthest point away from Ralu. Crystal followed him and set up beside him and while she was making herself comfortable, Flynt turned toward me with the unanswered question of 'What is she doing?' in his stance. I just responded with a shrug of my shoulders. I had no idea why she seemed to be gravitated towards him. I looked back at Ralu and found her already lying against rock. She wasn't yelping in pain so it must have been cool.

Glancing back behind me the way we came proved the same thing that had been seen throughout our entire trip. No movement… not a damn thing. No life other than us and it was uncertain if the personnel at Thor base had survived. We would see tomorrow though. Satisfied that we were safe for now, I sat down on the ground, with my rifle close at hand. It was going to be 2 long boring hours.

* * *

An hour had passed, and Flynt and Crystal were fast asleep. It was almost comical the way that Flynt slept, because he was actually _cradling_ his Heavy Machine Gun in his sleep. I couldn't blame him though. That Machine Gun must have been one hell of a reassurance. I was semi worried about Crystal though. She didn't sing softly for once, although I think it was because Flynt and the Elite were close by. Either way, I hoped that this wouldn't last for a while.

The red sky had finally turned to a dull grey, and the temperature had dropped by about 3 degrees. At this rate, it would snow in about 3 days if my Tacpad calculations were correct.

I was worried. Now that Flynt had joined us and told me all about the dirty secrets that ONI had, my trust in them had been shattered. 15 years of my life I trusted them, worked for them, and killed for them. 15 years worth…. All shattered in a matter of hours. I sighed to myself. What would I do now that knew? The answer? I didn't know.

My instincts suddenly told me that something was off and I whirled around with my pistol drawn. Ralu stood there, frozen where she stood but with absolutely no fear in her eyes.

"Relax Spartan. It is only me." She assured me.

"Oh yeah? That's not reassuring at all!" I snapped back at her before I could stop myself.

Ralu's face didn't twitch at my outburst and she either didn't care or was really good at hiding her emotions. We both stood there for a few awkward seconds before she asked a question.

"May I join you?"

I froze. 'What did she mean by join me?' I then mentally slapped myself. 'She could only mean as to sit by idiot, don't even _think_ of the other possibilities'.

I curiously looked at her, and asked her the first question that I had without any hostile or angry feelings in it.

"Why?"

"I have lost too much honour to go back to the covenant alive. If I do, my entire lineage, my family, will be executed and if I am too never be free in the Covenant race again, I may as well know about the warrior who bested me in combat" She didn't miss a beat.

I pondered her request. I would bet the lives of every civilian on Earth that Ralu and I had just set a new record for the most words spoken between Spartans and Elites without any hostility in them. I had my MA5B at close hand and it was fully loaded and ready to fire.

"Fine Elite, but no deceit." I muttered.

Ralu nodded and sat down quietly about 3 feet beside me.

I couldn't help but notice that even with the way that her hands were bound she still managed to gracefully fold herself into a sitting position.

Every movement she made was as fluid as a snake, calculated, hypnotising and lethal. I wondered if she normally moved like that, or only if because she was in the presence of an enemy.

"Spartan." She voiced from beside me. "Tell me about yourself."

I looked to her, then down to at my feet. What could be the harm in it? My mind screamed at me that everything was wrong about it and that I would regret it later, but I just couldn't stop myself from answering her.

"What do you want to know?"

She looked back up at me with surprise in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly that I thought that I had imagined it.

"How come all of your soldiers are not as advanced as you Spartans?" she questioned me.

"Only a select few are chosen to be Spartans. From a young age of 4 to 6, kids with the proper mental aptitude of teamwork, aggression and intelligence and physical strength are selected for advanced vigorous training that begins immediately. We are taken from our families and put into the tough world of military life. We were shocked, beaten, shot at and broken down. Only for our instructors to train us to be cold, tough, fast, brave and intelligent. Then after 10 years of vigorous military training, we were to be augmented with cybernetics, genetic cocktails and technology. Except the progress was dangerous, and over half of the Spartans died or were irreversibly disfigured during the augmentation. Those that survived though were stronger, faster, smarter and better than any UNSC soldier in every way. Our armour just further enhances our speed and strength. I along with 35 of my kind, Flynt included, are the Spartans that your Covenant has lost so many too." I finished, and I instantly regretted how much information I just revealed to her.

Ralu looked absolutely stunned with just how much I told her, and the way her mandibles hung open was kind cute-

'What the fuck Alex? Did you just think that she looked cute? She is a monster, an abomination! You disgust me!' I mentally yelled at myself, and while I was doing so, I did not realize Flynt stand up.

I saw Ralu brace herself out of the corner of my eye and I turned to find Flynt standing up and looking absolutely menacing.

He didn't move an inch before saying "My turn for watch."

I looked at my tacpad and saw that he was correct, It had already been an hour. Damn. I had just spent an entire hour talking with Ralu. Definitely a new record.

I nodded to him, and standing up, I grabbed my assault rifle and lumbered over to a rocky wall. I sat down with back to the wall and closed my eyes. I heard the clack of Ralu's hooves follow to a spot beside me about 10 feet away and then stop. It would be awhile before I fell asleep, and during that time I would ponder the new bond that I had just formed with Ralu tonight.

* * *

Hey guys, its me! So sorry for taking so long to update, but i had a huge case of writers block and it wouldnt go away. This chapter felt meh-ish but its up to you to decide. BTW I cant tell if the relationships are going too slow or too fast. Thats where you readers come in with your reviews. So leave a review with what you think in it. Thanks!


	11. New foesNew allies

I do not own Halo or anything related to Halo and its universe. I only own this story, it's plot and my characters

OC's belong to their respective authors.

* * *

_Ralu looked absolutely stunned with just how much I told her, and the way her mandibles hung open was kind cute-_

_'What the fuck Alex? Did you just think that she looked cute? She is a monster, an abomination! You disgust me!' I mentally yelled at myself, and while I was doing so, I did not realize Flynt stand up._

_I saw Ralu brace herself out of the corner of my eye and I turned to find Flynt standing up and looking absolutely menacing._

_He didn't move an inch before saying "My turn for watch."_

_I looked at my tacpad and saw that he was correct, It had already been an hour. Damn. I had just spent an entire hour talking with Ralu. Definitely a new record._

_I nodded to him, and standing up, I grabbed my assault rifle and lumbered over to a rocky wall. I sat down with back to the wall and closed my eyes. I heard the clack of Ralu's hooves follow to a spot beside me about 10 feet away and then stop. It would be awhile before I fell asleep, and during that time I would ponder the new bond that I had just formed with Ralu tonight._

I was awoken with a start and whipping out my knife before I even opened my eyes, I grabbed hold of my assailant and placed the blade against their throat. It was only then that I saw the nervous face of Crystal peering up at me, worry evident in her eyes. I backed away from her with a sudden gasp, but quickly composed myself and glared at her.

"Damn it Crystal, you know better than to wake me up by shaking me!" I snapped at her, mildly irritated.

Crystal had the sense to look a little sheepish during my complaint, but she didn't back down or away under my gaze.

She just shrugged before going to wake Flynt up, grumbling under her breath the whole time.

I sighed to myself before looking at my Tacpad. 0600 hundred hours. Perfect.

I turned to where Ralu had sat down to sleep last night and found her staring right back at me, her gaze once again unreadable. I looked back at her, wondering just what the hell was going through her mind right now. Ralu was very enigmatic, but I suppose that was supposed to be expected. She was in the presence of the enemy, and probably tried to vary her responses as much as possible so that the enemy could not get a read on her personality. I would do the same if I were in her position-

'No you wouldn't Alex and you know it. You're a Spartan. And Spartan's always fight to the death, never giving up or surrendering.'

I got back up and prepared to tell everyone to start marching when I suddenly got a very cold chill race down my back.

Something was wrong. VERY wrong.

I looked over to Flynt who suddenly had his Machine gun out and ready to fire, sweeping the nearby trees with slow, precise movements.

"What is it?" I shouted out to him, training my own rifle at the trees.

"I don't know…. I can't see anything. But my radar is showing at least 6 contacts in front of us!"

I looked back at Ralu. Her eyes were wide, not with fear, but with anxiety. She wanted to hold a weapon, to fight back if she had too. I wouldn't let her though. She was still the enemy and I didn't trust her.

"Ok, everyone start to fall back to the edge of the clearing, if you see any contacts, shoot first and ask-" I was cut off as something slammed into me from behind and threw me to the ground. Rolling with the momentum, I got to feet and without looking at was attacking me, I launched a flurry of punches and kicks at it. My assailant was just a blur as it blocked all of my strikes, weaving and dodging.

"We've been engaged!" Flynt yelled out, and he opened fire with his turret, Crystal shooting at her own target.

I heard Ralu snarl something in her own language, but I didn't get a chance to worry as my attacker suddenly unleashed its own attacks at me. It launched a fist at my stomach which I easily deflected to the side with my elbow, then it brought a boot up to kick me in the face which I caught, and then with a sudden jerk I pulled it off balance and pulling it towards me, I snapped a kick straight into its chest. My attacker flew back and smacked into a tree, slumping down and remaining motionless. It was only then that I got a good look at my assailant.

It was a goddamn Spartan-III. The Spartan wore black downgraded MJOLNIR Mk.4 armour, with a golden SPI helmet to mask the Spartan's face and was maybe a foot or so shorter then I was. Why the fuck were they attacking us?

A roar of anger snapped me out of my thoughts and whipping my head to the side, I saw Ralu spin around on her hoof before striking another Spartan-III with a sidekick, the figure flying back through the bushes. She snapped her head to the side and was about to shoulder charge another when she was jumped on by two other Spartans and wrestled to the ground, roaring, snarling and struggling all the while.

"Goddamnit! Get the hell off of me you fucker!" Crystal cursed, struggling as a Spartan held her arms behind her back and immobilized her.

I started to rush over to her aid when a Spartan-III suddenly jumped in front of me, and would have dropkicked me if I didn't roll under him. Getting to my feet I snarled a few choice words at the Spartan before I launched myself at it.

The Spartan ducked under my punch and then jumped to the side to avoid the punt I aimed at its head. Not giving me any time to recover, the Spartan jumped over me and roundhouse kicked at my head. I was barely able to roll under it, and then spring myself up to avoid the low sweep kick.

Twisting my body, I thrust my elbow into its stomach but the Spartan's shield took the brunt of the attack, and as it twisted away, and grabbed onto my outstretched arm, it threw its hip into me and threw me over its back, but as I rolled over its back I grabbed onto the Spartan's head, and looping my arm around it I brought the Spartan down with me. It started to struggle but stopped as I whipped my knife out and placed it under the Spartan's helmet.

Dragging myself and the Spartan to our feet, I looked over at Flynt and found him engaged against two Spartans, barely dodging and blocking there attacks. All of a sudden Flynt flipped onto his back, and using his leverage he snapped his feet straight up into both of the Spartans helmets, launching them up and away from him. They both hit the ground hard, and while one remained motionless, most likely unconscious, the other struggled to get to its feet. Not giving it any time to recover, Flynt leapt onto the Spartan, and using one arm to wrap its arms around its back, Flynt used his other hand to whip his pistol out and place it against the Spartan's helmet. Everything was deathly silent until a booming voice rang out.

"Stand down Spartans!" A man walked through some bushes into the clearing, followed by two more Spartan-III's.

I glared at the man, practically ready to rip him apart for having his Spartan-III's attack us.

"I am Colonel Renshaw, commanding ONI officer here on this planet. Judging by your looks, you must be Spartan-II's. Identify yourselves." He ordered, and I bristled at the casual way he spoke to us. But he was a commanding officer so I obeyed his order.

"I am Commander Alex, Spartan-099" I said and nodding towards "And that is Chief Petty Officer Flynt, Spartan-101."

The Colonel paused in thought for a moment before saying "Well now that introductions are done, put down your weapons, let go of my Spartans and you will be escorted back to our base where you shall be interrogated." He said it so smugly, as if he were absolutely positive that I was going to listen to him.

If only he knew how wrong he was.

I tightened my grip on the Spartan I was holding and growled out "Like hell I will."

The Colonel's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed at me as he just understood that I disobeyed him.

"Maybe you didn't hear me Commander. I order you to stand down at once and allow yourself to be escorted back to base!" He barked at me, eyes narrowed in anger.

I just glared right back at him.

"Sir, while you may be the Commanding officer here, I must point out that I have a high value target here that I must get to High Command HQ. This Elite is the first female Elite we have ever seen, and as a Spec Ops Sub-Commander, this Elite might have knowledge that could turn the tide of this war for us. I am charged with bringing her back to Reach." I finished.

"And what does that mean?" The Colonel snarled at me.

Taking a deep breath, I looked straight into his eyes, and said "Which means I have tactical control over your Spartans…. And you sir."

The Colonels eyes nearly bugged out of his head and his face went completely red with anger.

"No way Spartan! Now release my Spartans at once!" He yelled.

"Then release my charge and ODST!" I shouted right back at him.

We glared silently at each other until I pressed the point of my knife a bit harder into the Spartan's neck. I was getting pissed off right now. This proved to me that ONI did not think of us Spartans as soldiers or the defenders of humanity, they saw us as mindless freaks that they could use at their every whim and order around to do their dirty work.

The Spartan let out a gasp of pain and discomfort, and then it spoke with a feminine voice.

"Please Commander… don't." She whimpered out.

'So they were human after all.' I silently mused to myself.

"Your call Colonel." I said, and looked over at Flynt to see him flick the safety off of his pistol.

Everyone was silent until the Colonel ground out "Stand down Spartan-III's and release the Elite and ODST."

The Spartan behind Crystal let go of her hands, and scowling at the Spartan, Crystal went over to and picked up her rifle, then came to stand over by me.

The two Spartans on top of Ralu slowly got off of her, but kept their hands by their side arms in case she attacked.

Ralu growled angrily at the Spartans and looked like she was going to attack them again, but eventually just settled for a snarl and then came to stand off to my side a bit.

I glanced to Flynt and gave him a nod, which he then returned. We both let go of the Spartan-III's at the same time eyes watching the Spartans for any hint of hostility. They did nothing though; just walked back towards the rest of the III's and picked up their weapons.

I sheathed my knife into the holster on my chest, then walked over to and grabbed my MA5B Assault Rifle off the ground. Flynt just holstered his pistol and then grabbed his heavy turret off of the ground.

"Colonel, I need a ship off of this planet. Do you have anything at THOR Base?" I asked him.

He stiffened up, and then said "How the hell do you know the codename of our base?" He barked.

I just pointed to Flynt, who stood tall and remained absolutely silent, glancing at the Colonel.

"Colonel, do you have a ship that can get us off this planet? As you can tell, parts of the planet have been glassed by the Covenant. As to why they haven't glassed this place I have no idea, but what I do know is that this part will eventually become too cold and barren to live on due to the dust blocking out the light and heat from the star in this system. Do you have anything that we can use? A Pelican? A ONI Prowler? Even a Longsword?" I questioned him.

The Colonel glared at me before sneering "We have a Prowler ready to be used, but if you think that I will allow you to use it, then you are sorely-" He was cut off as a Spiker round lodged itself deep into his skull. The Colonel dropped lifelessly to the ground without a sound, and one of the Spartans yelled out "Contacts!"

Everyone snapped their weapons up and started firing at the source of light that emitted when the weapon was fired. A Brute howled in pain before seeming to just materialize out of thin air and it hit the ground dead, its body riddled with bullet holes.

One of the Spartans ran to the colonel and checked his life signs, but it was unnecessary. The Colonel was dead before he even hit the ground.

All of a sudden, multiple howls filled the air, seeming to come from all directions. I glanced back at Ralu, and saw that her eyes were wide with fear. There must have been a reason for Ralu to be afraid of the Brutes, and that made me realize that I had to protect her even more carefully.

Brutes charged out of the forest, firing at us and filling the air with Spiker rounds. A couple of Spartans cried out in pain but everyone quickly snapped their rifles up and started firing back. The Brutes were uncoordinated, and one by one, more Brutes fell to our combined fire. Almost as quickly as it had begun, the firefight ended, and the echoes of our battle bounced back and forth between the trees, creating a very disturbing and high pitched ringing noise.

Four of the Spartan-III's lay on the ground, clutching at their wounds that leaked blood. If we made it to THOR Base, then we would be able to get proper medical attention and then be able to get off of this planet.

"Goddamnit!" The female Spartan that I had fought with growled out, holding her leg which a giant spiker round lodged into it.

"Spartans!" I yelled out "Listen up! As the Commanding Officer alive here, I am taking control of this operation. Now we need to get to Sword Base, and I need you to lead me there. Any objections?" I finished.

"Sir!" One spoke up "I do not feel like I can submit to your authority-" He was cut off as multiple howls split through the hair. They sounded a close and that shut everyone up.

"Move Spartans move!" I shouted out, and sliding my MA5B onto my back, I picked up the female Spartan that was injured bridal style, and started to sprint as fast as I could.

Flynt tossed his heavy turret to one of the Spartans that was running by, and then picked up two injured Spartans and flung them over his shoulder and started to sprint as well.

Crystal was picked up by one of the Spartan-III's and she was too terrified to complain as she looped her arms around the Spartan's neck and clung on for dear life. The other injured Spartan had gotten hit in the arm so was still able to run with us.

As the howls got closer and louder, I picked up my pace even more, sprinting as fast as I could now. Ralu was able to keep pace with us, even with her hands bound, and I could hear everyone panting as we ran away from the Brutes.

That was when I saw it, a bunch of Warthogs!

I ran to the troop carrier hog, and setting down the female Spartan on one of the seats at the back, I handed her my MA5B as well as 3 clips of ammunition for it. "Make them count." I swiftly said and then helped put all of the injured into the back of the troop carrier hog.

I grabbed one of the Spartans "Drive them to THOR Base and keep them safe. We will ride behind you and keep the Brutes from getting to you!" I ordered, and the Spartan nodded before he jumped into the driver's seat and, pressing the ignition button, he floored the Hogs pedal and took off down the slight dirt road with tire tracks in it.

I jumped into the regular hog, and started it up. Glancing back, I saw Crystal getting into the Passenger seat of another Hog, with two other Spartans getting into the driver and gunner seat, before they too sped off down the dirt road. That left Ralu and Flynt. Ralu hopped into the passenger seat with a surprising amount of grace, while Flynt hopped onto the back of the Warthog, and shoving his feet inside the footholds, he yanked the Charging handle back, racking a round into one of the chamber of the tri-barrelled machinegun.

"Let's rock!" Flynt shouted, and I needed no more motivation as I stomped on the accelerator of the Warthog and raced after the other Hogs.

* * *

**Hey guys im back! After taking a two month break to get my thoughts and motivation back together, I have finally come back to you with a new chapter. Due to popular demand, there will be a chapter that is focused mainly on a lemon between Alex and Ralu. I realize its been a while, and i am probably a but rusty right now. If you spot annything i can improve on that would be great. Otherwise, review and tell me what you think or if you have a question, and i shall respond back to the best of my abilities. Thanks everyone! Read and review!**


	12. More then meets the eye

I do not own Halo or anything related to Halo and its universe. I only own this story, it's plot and my characters

OC's belong to their respective authors.

* * *

"Watch it!" Flynt growled out as the hog flew over a particularly big bump, rattling the whole vehicle.

The thick heavy tires of the hog did their job, absorbing the shock from the bumps in the road and preventing the vehicle from flipping over, as well as purchasing the ground and allowing us to gain speed.

"Any signs of contacts?" I shouted back at Flynt, swerving hard to the right to avoid a fallen tree.

The roar of the hog's engine seemed to reverberate inside of my ears, sounding louder than it actually was, and I had to strain to hear Flynt's voice.

"I don't see any- wait! Four large contacts heading towards us from the right! Brake! Brake!" he yelled out.

On instinct I hammered on the brakes, and as the hog slowed down, I looked to the right just in time to see a large vehicle slice through the air where we would have been had I not braked, and completely tore through a large tree, sending splinters everywhere. I floored the gas pedal, wanting to get as a far away from those vehicles as possible. The hog's tires fishtailed for a second before catching and launching us forwards. Another one of those vehicles rammed through the spot where we had been just a second ago, and it was then that I got a good look at the vehicle.

Twin serrated blades circled round and round inside a large covering, grinding up dirt, gravel and whatever happened to be on the ground, sending columns of dust out from behind the vehicle. The rest of a vehicle looked like the chassis of a motorcycle, with a brute sitting in the seat that was held up by an anti-gravity unit, mouth open in a furious bellow that he had missed. Using what looked like a handle bar to turn the vehicle, he pointed the vehicle at us and then drove forward, two jets of flame belching roaring out from what I assumed was the exhaust ports, the twin blades chopping up whatever got underneath it.

"What the hell are those things?" I yelped out, swerving to avoid a large rock. The strange vehicles easily followed, swerving and responding much like a bicycle.

"Choppers!" Flynt answered back, before spinning the tri-barrelled machine gun up and opening fire. 12.7X99mm amour piercing rounds impacted on one of the Choppers at 500 rounds per minute, utterly ripping the vehicle to pieces. The Chopper veered to the left, smoke pouring from the sides before impacting on a rock and exploding in a blue tinged fireball.

"Eat lead you son of a bitch!" Flynt growled, before aiming the turret at one of the other Choppers.

The other drivers had learned from their dead comrade's mistake however, and kept sure to always keep some sort of cover between them and Flynt. I used the slight break we had to contact the other Spartan-III's and warn them.

"Spartans listen up. We have Brutes chasing us on vehicles called choppers. They are highly dangerous and can tear apart anything in no time flat. Do everything you can to avoid hitting them. The treads that you might see grinding up the ground are the dangerous part. Focus all fire on one chopper at a time. Do you understand me Spartans?" I barked.

"We are already engaged with the vehicles sir! We are making all haste for THOR base. Watch out, the choppers have-" a burst of static cut the Spartan.

"Say again Spartan!" I ordered, driving around a particularly large tree trunk that had fallen across the road.

I looked back to watch as the chopper burst right through the tree trunk, large pieces of wood and splinters flying everywhere. The vehicle hadn't even been slowed down, tearing right through the tree trunk like an energy sword through steel. Flynt aimed and started firing at the chopper.

"I said that the Choppers have two cannons mounted onto the side, they are very dangerous sir, watch out!" The Spartan finished, and I could hear the clatter of rifle fire in the background before the channel got cut.

'What did he mean by cannons?'

My thought was quickly answered as something slammed into the vehicle and sent the vehicle lurching forward. The tires thankfully held onto ground and prevented us from sliding out of control. I looked back to see Flynt re-aiming the turret at the chopper before yelling out "Fuck you!" and firing at it.

The chopper exploded almost instantaneously, making me wonder if he had hit a fuel wire or something, but I was quickly brought back to the present as more hot, heavy projectiles slammed into the rocks and ground beside us.

"Dodge them Alex!" Flynt growled, bringing the turret to bear on another vehicle and firing.

I swerved to the right just in time to avoid a large pothole, but the left side of the vehicle bounced and we were suddenly driving on only two tires.

"Shit, get us back on all four tires! Flynt yelled, firing all the while.

"Goddamnit!" I shouted, struggling to control the wheel lest we flip onto our side and crash.

With a roar, I was able to twist the wheel to the right, and the left side of the hog fell back onto the ground, slightly bouncing me in my seat.

"Fuck yeah! Get some bitches!" Flynt whooped as another Chopper exploded into a fiery wreckage, black smoke rising into the sky.

'That makes three. Where's the fourth one?' I mused.

It appeared that we had lost it. I heard a whimper from beside me, and glanced over to find Ralu sitting in her seat, her skin lightly pale and taking short, shallow breaths. Why was she so terrified of these brutes? Wasn't she a Spec-Ops Commander?

I didn't get to ponder on my question as I saw a very sharp right turn coming up… right next to a large cliff. I looked back at Flynt.

"Hang on!" I shouted to him, and I saw him clench tightly onto the hand holds of the machine gun, fingers just hovering off of the firing studs.

The warthog roared towards the edge of the cliff, and I slammed down on the emergency hand brake and sent the Warthog into a tight right turn. Leaning against the G-forces, I felt something settle on top of my hand holding the E-brake, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ralu clench down onto my hand with both of hers. Her were still bound and her eyes were wide with fear, staring straight ahead. She probably wasn't aware that she was grasping my hand like a life line, but I still scowled. A Spec-Ops Commander shouldn't be this afraid.

"Spartan, watch out!" Ralu shouted, snapping my gaze to the right.

A chopper was headed towards us from the side, and judging by the distance, it was going to hit us straight from the side. I didn't even get time to blink as the chopper rammed into us and sent us flying off of the edge. My head whiplashed into the back of the seat, and all I saw momentarily was a bunch of stars and heard shouts of fear from Ralu and Flynt. The feeling of weightlessness did not help my vertigo, and as my stomach leapt into my throat, I could only wonder if I was going to feel my death or not. I was suddenly thrown from side to side as the warthog hit many numerous objects, bouncing to and fro as I was subjected to the laws of physics. It felt like I was being tossed around forever until with a sudden huge jolt, the Hog finally stopped.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that I was still alive, and that the cliff we had been rammed off of actually spiralled down to the trail that we were currently on. Glancing over to the passenger seat, I saw Ralu there, frozen stock still and taking extremely short and shallow breathes. The second thing I noticed was that my hand was still holding down the E-Brake and that Ralu's were still clenching down on mine. I grasped her hands, firmly but gently, and tried to pry them off. Nothing. They didn't even move an inch, her grip was as solid a vise. Something was definitely wrong, Ralu should have seen things as a Spec-Ops Commander that would make a battle-hardened Sergeant puke his guts up. And yet she was petrified solid from a near death experience due to a fall. It would have to wait, as I looked back to see Flynt slumped over the turret.

"Flynt!" I shouted, straining in my seat to reach for him. I couldn't lose him now, not after having just seen him again in years.

A groan from him made me pause, before I stopped all together as I saw his helmet slowly look around a bit. Flynt slowly pushed himself off of the turret with a grunt, before looking up at the spot where we had fallen. I looked up too and was slightly surprised to see a warthog sized hole of in the dead trees, and most of the branches gone, leading to a clear view of where I could see the cliff that we had been rammed off of.

"Goddamn stinking apes, stupid motherfucking shit-flinging mini King Kongs." Flynt growled out none to pleasantly, and I raised my eyebrows slightly at the vulgarity of his words.

I said nothing however, as I looked over to the side from where we had been rammed, and my eyes widened at the dent that the chopper had caused. Two inches of Grade-A Titanium armour had been crushed into the Hog like it was just paper, and the only conclusion that I came to as to how we survived was that the brute had not activated the boost feature that the Chopper had.

The sound of an explosion made me snap my head up in the direction that it had come from. It must have been the Spartan-III's! Looking back at Ralu, I found her hands had left mine and were now resting in her lap, her breathing a bit deeper than from what it had been seconds before.

"Let's go Commander!" Flynt exclaimed.

I nodded before pressing the ignition button on the Warthog, which thankfully still worked as the Engine started back up. The only sounds that I heard were the squeal of tires and the roar of the engine as I raced the Warthog towards the source of the explosion. The Spartan-III's were under attack and I needed them to get back to Earth.

* * *

**Hey guys its me again. I know that it has been over a month since i last updated, and i know that this chapter is very short at just a little over 1700 words, but I want to save all of the fighting for next chapter. If you have any questions, please send it to me via Private Messaging. Otherwise, review and tell me what you thought of this chapter other than it been short.**


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